Three of a Kind, The Stuff of Legends
by BigBadWolfTardis
Summary: What if... Rose Tyler had had an older brother called Craig Tyler. What if Craig Tyler had met and gone with the Doctor on their journeys. How might their adventures gone, how might fate have been changed? A rewrite of Doctor Who series one to include an OC
1. Rose and Craig, The Tylers & The Doctor

**Hey everybody, welcome to Three of a Kind, The Stuff of Legend. This story is a rewrite of Doctor Who series one to include my own character, Craig Tyler, who I made up and own. I DO NOT own Doctor Who, or any material associated with it, such as characters, objects or certain words. I intend this story to include every episode in series 1, and some adventures of my own creation, which I will own and point out properly. Please enjoy and feel free to leave a review, and if anybody has ideas for own adventures they think are good, feel free to include in reviews, if I like them I might think of something for it : ) and now, as the man himself says, Allons-y!**

**...**

**Rose and Craig**

**Rose and Craig – The Tylers & the Doctor**

Planet Earth, beautifully green and blue, glowing slightly in the dark as it orbited the sun. It hung in the sky, safe from the knowledge that on planets similar and different alike held beings like them, yet completely different, so many species of people that some thought that there wasn't even a number to them, but to the people of planet earth, alien life forms were the things of children's stories, or belonged to those labelled as mad and crazy, but it wasn't the minority that was wrong, it was everybody else that refused to accept the extra-terrestrial that was incorrect, but on a completely ordinary day in the early months of two thousand and five, two very ordinary yet special people's lives would change forever, the day starting in a very loud way.

BLAR BLAR BLAR BLAR

'Rose turn that off will ya?!' yelled an angry voice from the room on the other side of Rose Tyler's bedroom wall. Groggily, she rolled over in bed and slammed her hand on her alarm clock, turning it off. Rose Tyler was nineteen years of age, had long blonde hair, which was currently hanging messily down over her pretty face, and had deep brown eyes.

It was currently half past seven in the morning, and rolling out of bed, she began rushing around beginning to get ready. She could hear the angry mutters on the inhabitant of the room next to her's as he too began to get dressed, but at a slower pace as he worked shifts, and today was his first day off. She could also hear her mother watching her morning soaps seeing as she wasn't in work until later in the day, and so after getting ready, dressing in blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a pink and grey hoodie, she kissed her mother on the cheek, convinced her brother to give her a lift home at the end of the day through yelled conversation through his wall, and ran for the bus.

The day had passed her by in a blur, she had been placed on rotation for the day and was putting clothes at all morning, ran out to meet with her boyfriend to have lunch in her break, and was putting clothes out once more, so by the time the announcement that the shop would be closing in five minutes, she was bored out of her mind and relieved that the day was over.

As she was about to walk out of the front entrance, she grinned as she looked over to see her older brother standing there, car keys in hand as he waited for her. Craig Tyler looked a lot like Rose, he had shoulder length hair which was dyed a dark yellowish mustard colour, was taller than her but shorter than most men, and had hazel eyes which looked almost like molten gold. He was wearing a red T-shirt under his black hoodie, and wore dark jeans over his black converse. He was slim, but had slightly muscular arms, and was smiling over at his younger sister, him being twenty years of age.

'Hey Craig, thanks for coming to pick me up' she grinned as she reached him.

'You're welcome little sis, now come on, can't keep the lovely Mickey waiting' he grinned, and together they were about to leave the shop, but at the last moment a security guard called out to Rose, a bag full of money for the lottery syndicate in his hand, his meaning being clear as Rose sighed in annoyance, all she wanted to do was leave.

'Two minutes' she said to Craig as she took the bag and began walking to the lift.

'I'll come with ya, I know you, you'll get into a conversation and we'll be here all night' Craig stated, following her into the lift, standing beside her as it descended. When the doors opened, they were in the dusty, messy corridor beneath the immaculate shop, boxes were placed untidily every few feet, and manikins had been dumped across the floor and in piles near the walls. Quickly, Rose approached a large red door with the word 'Wilson' written across it.

'Wilson?' Rose called through it, trying to open it but found it locked.

'Come on, hurry up' Craig said impatiently, he wasn't in the mood for waiting around.

'It's locked, that's weird' she replied quietly.

'Leave it on the table with a note' Craig said, bringing a pen he found in his pocket for her to jot down a message. Rose placed the money on a table and wrote a note on the back of a bit of disregarded paper. Just as she placed it with the money, a loud noise echoed down the corridor, and they saw that a stack of boxes which had previously been stack near a door were now scattered across the floor.

'Hello?!' Rose called out. Another bumping noise could be heard.

'Wilson?' Craig yelled out, wondering what the man he had met a few times was playing at. As the pair began approaching the cause of the noises, which was still sounding, and moved out of the dimly lit area and into the shadows, not noticing the movement behind them. But as they heard the sound of a lock clicking, the sprinted towards the door at the end of the corridor, finding it locked.

'You've got to be kidding' Rose gasped in shock, she really didn't want to be stuck down here all night.

'Look Wilson, stop messing on, they're closing the shop' Craig shouted, thinking this was some kind of lame joke, but turned to look at his sister when he felt her tightly grip his arm.

'Craig, look over there' she whispered, and turning in the direction she had indicated, he noticed what had spooked her. Previous there had been a dummy lying flat faced on the ground, but now, it was on its feet, staring right at them.

'What, the hell…' he trailed off, freaked out slightly, which only intensified as all the other dummies climbed to their feet before their very eyes, and began moving slowly towards them.

'What's going on?' Rose cried out as they ran to the right along the wall, moving faster than the dummies, but were heavily outnumbered, which resulted in them quickly being surrounded, Rose to the right, Craig to the left, backed against a pipe. They both flinched slightly as the manikin closest to them raised its arm, ready to strike. Suddenly there was a hand in Rose's, causing her eyes to shot open, and to look at the owner.

Standing before her was a man dressed in a dark jumper and leather jacket, and wearing casually smart trousers which were black. He had a large nose and ears to match, watery blue eyes, and looked to be several years older than the pair of them.

'Run' he whispered to the pair of them, and clinging onto his hand, Rose ran with him, Craig holding onto her other hand, whilst behind them the dummy missed them and hit the pipe, causing the hiss of gas to be heard as it began pouring out. The mystery man led them through the corridor, and the three eventually made it back to the lift, but the dummies were right behind them, and as the doors began shutting, the dummy which had tried to hit them had reached through and was trying to grab the man, but he was fighting back. He seized the dummy's arm, and began pulling at it, whilst Rose and Craig looked at him in bewilderment. As he eventually ripped the arm off, the doors closed successfully, and they began to go back up to safety.

'You pulled his arm off' Rose stated in shock, thinking it was a real person.

'Yep, plastic see?' he said, tossing the arm which she caught.

'So who were they then, students or something' Craig questioned.

'Why would they be students?' he asked in puzzlement.

'To get that many people dressed up and being silly, they have to be students' Rose added.

'Nice thinking, but no, they're not students' the man said softly.

'Well whoever they are, if Wilson finds them he'll call the police' Rose stated.

'Wilson's dead, sorry' the man said with no emotion in his voice.

'That's not funny, that's sick' Craig shouted as Rose's face blanched whilst at the same time the doors opened and they walked out, the man pulling a small silvery and blue tube from his pocket.

'Hold on, mind your eyes' the man said, pushing them back slightly.

'I've had enough of this now, who are you then? And who is that lot down there?' Rose demanded as he pressed the button on the tube, and instantly a whirring noise could be heard, and sparks shot out of the buttons to the lift, disabling it.

'That's criminal damage' Craig pointed out as the man dashed past him towards the stairs, Rose right behind him, Craig half a step behind her.

'I said who are they?!' she repeated in an angrier tone as they followed him.

'They're made of plastic, creatures of living plastic; they're controlled by a relay device on the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this' he stated as he pulled out a square box with red wires attached and a timer device, obviously an explosive device of some sort.

'So I'm heading up there, I'm gonna blow it up, and I might well die in the process. But don't worry about me, you two go home, go and have your nice beans on toast, don't tell anyone about this because if you do you'll get them killed' he said seriously, and with that he pushed them through a set of doors, closing them behind them, leaving two very confused sibling now standing out the back of the shop, under the darkened starry sky. A few moments later the doors opened and he reappeared.

'I'm The Doctor by the way, what are your names?' The Doctor asked them.

'I'm Rose Tyler, this is my brother Craig' Rose spoke up.

'Nice to meet you Rose and Craig, now run for you lives' he grinned as he wiggled the bomb in his hand, before closing the doors again. The pair stood there in shock for a few seconds, before Craig returned to his senses.

'Come on, run!' he shouted, and grabbing her hand, they pelted around the back of the shop, into the street and round a corner, bringing them to the front of the shop, where they quickly dashed across the road, almost being hit by a taxi, where they stopped for a breather on the other side of the road, before they turned to look back at the shop.

'Did that really just happen?' Rose breathed, before they both jumped as an almighty bang exploded through the night, and the shop they had been in not five minutes before was now a tower of flames, whilst late night shoppers outside began running in all directions, wanting to get as far from the fire as possible. Setting off at a run again, the pair was in such a hurry to get to Craig's car and to get home that neither of them paid any attention to a large blue box standing in the shadows.


	2. Rose and Craig, Unusual Conversation

**Rose and Craig – Unusual Conversation**

'The whole of central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire which engulfed Henricks Dept. store…' the new reader on the television was saying later that night. The pair had finally reached home, and were sitting safety on the sofa, a steaming cup of tea in front of them both, curtsey of Jackie, their mum. The arm Rose had fled with was on the armchair, and as the newsreader read on, their mum came into the room on the phone.

'I know it's on the telly, its everywhere. They're lucky to be alive; they were both inside just before. Honesty its aged them, skin like an old bible, both of them. If you walked in here now you'd think I was their daughter, oh and here's himself' she said in conversation. She, like her children, had dyed blonde hair, had tanned skin but bright blue eyes. She was wearing a stripy top and grey trousers, and her hair was hanging around her shoulders. As she left to go back into the kitchen, a tall dark skinned man with short black hair, dark eyes, wearing a white t-shirt with red writing, a grey hoodie, and dark jeans came bursting into the flat, Rose's boyfriend, Mickey Smith.

'I've being phoning your mobile, you could have been dead! I can't believe the shop went up' he said as he rushed up to Rose and hugged her, whilst Craig moved into the chair, putting the arm on the floor.

'I'm fine; honestly there's no need to fuss' Rose said softly.

'Yeah and where's my hug' Craig joked. Laughing, Mickey stood up and briefly hugged him too before flopping down into the seat besides Rose.

'What happened?' he asked, though who this was directed at was unclear.

'No idea, we were both across the street when it happened' Rose answered.

'What caused it though' Mickey asked.

'Don't know' Craig inputted as Jackie came back into the room.

'Debbie knows a man from The Mirror, five hundred quid for an interview' she exclaimed happily.

'Oh brilliant, give it here' Rose said sarcastically, taking the phone and hanging up.

'Well you've got to make money somehow, you're job kaput and I'm not bailing you out' Jackie said crossly, before the phone rang and she was quick to answer.

'Bev, they're alive! I've told them, sue for compensation, they were both within seconds of death' she said as she wandered out of the room again.

'What are you drinking tea?! No that's no good you're in shock, you need something stronger' Mickey stated.

'I'm fine' Rose protested.

'Nah you deserve a proper drink, we're going down the pub, my treat' he grinned, causing Rose to catch on and smile.

'There's a match on' she stated.

'No way, I'm just thinking of you babe' he protested.

'Definitely a match on' Craig commented as he stood up to get himself a refill of his tea, walking out the room.

'Well that's not the point, but we could catch the last few minutes' he said hopefully.

'Nah it's alright, you go, but to be honest I just want an early night' she said softly, just as Craig came back into the room.

'Oh Mickey, you really need to learn to show a girl a good time, I'll be more then glad to show you how' Craig winked suggestively, causing Rose to laugh at the insinuation as a blush quickly appeared on Mickey's face.

'Hands off, he's mine' Rose giggled as Craig resumed his seat.

'You really don't mind?' Mickey asked once the giggle subsided.

'Nah its fine, and get rid of that whilst you're at it' she said pointing to the arm on the floor. After picking it up, he kissed Rose on the cheek, dodged around Craig who teasingly tried to kiss him on the cheek, and pretended that the arm was strangling him before leaving the flat. Bidding Craig and Jackie goodnight, Rose instantly left for bed, whilst Craig retired to his room once the newscast of the incident was finished, with absolutely no mention of the so called Doctor.

BLAR BLAR BLAR BLAR

Craig groaned as the alarm through the wall assaulted his ears, waking him up. Why Rose had even left it on was anyone's guess, she didn't have a job anymore.

'There's no point in getting up sweetheart, you've no job to go too' Jackie shouted at her daughter. Since he couldn't hear her moving around next door, Craig assumed that like he, she had laid back in bed, and was going to get a bit more sleep. And an hour later, both were rested more so, and sitting at the kitchen table with Jackie, a drink in front of all of them, Rose properly dressed, Craig in an oversize red hoodie and black jeans which were baggy.

'There's Finch's, you could try them, they always have jobs' Jackie suggested.

'Oh great, the butchers' Rose murmured sarcastically.

'Well it might do you good. That shop was giving you airs and graces, and I'm not joking about the compensation, you've had genuine shock and trauma. Arianna got two thousand quid off the council cause the old man at the desk said she looked Greek' Jackie stated as she stood up to go get ready.

'Arianna IS Greek' Craig pointed out.

'That's not the point, it was a valid claim' Jackie spoke in a louder voice as she retreated to her room to get ready. Just then they heard a rattling at the front door, and Rose jumped up out of her seat.

'Mum you're such a liar, I told you to nail that cat flap shut, we're going to get strays' Rose accused as she walked over to the door and knelt down, examining several nails on the ground that had somehow came out of the flap.

'I did it weeks back' Jackie protested from her room.

'No you thought about it' Craig stated as he joined Rose near the door, looking confused as she held up the nails. Suddenly the cat flap wobbled, and looking even more puzzled, Rose pushed it outwards, opening it to reveal the man from last night. Instantly she jumped up, and pulled the door open to reveal him standing there.

'What are you two doing here?' he asked curiously.

'We live here' Rose put bluntly.

'Well what do you do that for?' he went on.

'Because we do' Craig said bemused.

'And I'm only at home because somebody blow up my job' Rose spat, but the man wasn't listening. Instead he pulled out that tube thing and was playing with the button on it.

'I must have the wrong signal, neither of you a plastic are you' he asked, rapping his hands overs both their foreheads leaving them slightly dazed.

'Nope, Boneheads, bye then' he said cheerfully, and was about to leave when Rose grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

'Inside now' she hissed, and pushing him into the flat, she made him go down the hall into the living room whilst Craig shut the door.

'Who is it?' Jackie called from her room.

'A man here to see Rose about the fire and compensation' Craig invented wildly, and when Jackie nodded in satisfaction, he went to join Rose and the man in the living room.

'Don't mind the mess, do you wanna coffee' Rose asked.

'Might as well thanks, just milk please' the man said as he sat in the armchair, whilst Craig sat on the sofa. Once Rose went into the kitchen Craig began speaking.

'Maybe we should go to the police' he noted.

'Can't, police won't be able to help with this' he stated.

'Well what is this, that fire was you right' Rose asked as she came into the room, handing a cup to the man and Craig, before taking a sip of her own as she sat next to her brother.

'Yep, I had to, those things last night, the dummies, they're trying to take over the world' he said rather bluntly, leaving both Tylers silent, gaping at him. They were about to exclaim in shock and concern for his sanity when they suddenly heard a rattling behind the sofa.

'What's that then, you got a cat or a dog' he asked, standing up to look behind the sofa.

'No, we did have, but now we just get strays' Rose stated and she and her brother looked behind the sofa also. Suddenly a blur of white leapt up at them and fastened around Craig's throat, causing him to yelp in surprize and pain.

'What the …' Rose trailed off as Craig began struggling against the arm, desperately trying to remove its grip that was squashing the air out of his lungs. Lunging forwards, she gripped the hand and tried to retch it off her brother's neck, whilst the doctor pulled out the tube thing.

'Help me!' she yelled at him, and he quickly jabbed the tube into the back of the hand, and with a faint buzz, the hand let go. Instantly Craig pushed it off him and onto the floor, but it continued the move, walking like a crab, scuttling towards them.

'Quick, in here' the doctor said urgently, and grabbing both their hands and dragging them into the kitchen, just as the sounds of a hairdryer could be heard coming from Jackie's room. Craig slammed the door shut, and Rose closed the serving hatch, leaving a small crack in them door so they could still see the arm.

'What the hell just happened' Craig demanded of the Doctor.

'Well, that arm is being controlled and it tried to kill you' the doctor said in a voice like a parent explaining to their child that two plus two equals four.

'Yeah I got that you idiot, I meant how and more importantly why' Craig snapped, he didn't exactly think this was the time for being clever.

'You wouldn't understand' the doctor said simply, and sensing Craig was going to get even more annoyed, Rose stepped in.

'What are we going to do about it' Rose asked, peering through the gap, and gasping as she saw the arm was beginning to move towards the hall, towards Jackie's room.

'What, why's it going for her?' the doctor asked aloud as he looked through the gap to.

'Is it going after whoever's the easiest to get to?' Craig asked quickly.

'No, it must be the sound of the hairdryer' the doctor theorised.

'Well do something then!' Rose demanded, whilst Craig suddenly got an idea, and drawing out his mobile, he began ringing their own number. Instantly the phone began ringing, and after a few seconds, the arm changed its course and began heading towards the phone.

'Ok, I'll admit that was pretty clever' the doctor sighed as he ran from the Kitchen and before the arm could react, jabbed the tube thing into the back of the hand, and after a few moments, it when back to being completely motionless.

'What did you do?' Craig asked as he prodded the arm, just to be sure it really was dead.

'Cut the signal, right, things to do, see ya' he said cheerfully, and without another word was up and out the door, but not without Rose and Craig chasing after him.

'Hold on a minute you can't just go swanning off' Rose stated as they followed him down the stairs.

'Yes I can, this is me, swanning off, see ya!' he replied happily as he continued.

'But that arm was moving, it tried to kill me!' Craig protested.

'Ten out of ten for observation' the Doctor said cockily.

'You can't just walk away, that's not fair! You've got to tell us what's going on' Rose insisted.

'No I don't' the Doctor replied simply, just as they reached the bottom of the stairs, and went through the doors, into the exterior of the Powell Estate.

'Alright then, we'll go to the police, we'll tell everyone, you said, if we did that, we'd get people killed. So, your choice, tell us, or we'll start talking' Rose tried to argue, she wouldn't really but the Doctor didn't need to know that.

'Is that supposed to sound tough?' the Doctor almost laughed and even Craig had to carefully stifle a chuckle at the response.

'Sort of' Rose shrugged.

'Doesn't work' the Doctor gloated.

'Who are you?' Craig asked softly.

'I told you! The Doctor' the Doctor replied quickly.

'Yeah. But Doctor what?' Rose asked.

'Just the Doctor' the Doctor said happily.

'The Doctor' Craig stated in disbelief.

'Hello!' the Doctor said waving the arm to emphasize the hello.

'Is that supposed to sound impressive?' Rose grinned.

'Sort of' the doctor smiled, seeing what she was doing.

'Doesn't work' she laughed.

'So come on, you can tell us. We've seen enough. Are you the police?' Craig asked, turning the conversation back to seriousness.

'No. I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home' the Doctor stated.

'But what have we done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after us?' Rose asked in confusion.

'Oh! Suddenly the entire world revolves around you! You two were just an accident, you got in the

way, that's all' the doctor said in a mocking tone.

'It tried to kill me!' Craig insisted, after all you don't just try and kill people for no reason.

'It was after me, not you! Last night, in the shop, I was there, you two came blundering in. Almost ruined the whole thing, this morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down... the only reason it fixed on the pair of you is that you've met me' he explained.

'So, what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you' Rose chuckled slightly.

'Sort of, yeah' the Doctor grinned.

'You're full of it!' Craig was laughing now as well.

'Sort of, yeah' the Doctor replied and they all broke into fresh chuckles.

'But, all this plastic stuff, who else knows about it?' Rose asked, making the conversation once again serious.

'No one' the Doctor replied in an honest tone.

'What, you're on your own?' Craig asked.

'Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly! When all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on!' the Doctor said exasperatedly.

'Okay, start from the beginning' Rose requested, just as they reached the road leading into the park.

'If you're gonna go with this living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do... how did you kill it?' Craig asked.

'The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead' the Doctor explained.

'So that's radio control?' Rose asked.

'Thought control' the Doctor corrected, leading to a moment of silence as the sibling processed this information.

'Are you alright?' he asked them after noticing their quietness.

'Yeah. So, who's controlling it, then?' Craig wondered.

'Long story The Doctor replied quietly.

'But what's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies... what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?' she gasped dramatically before laughing, the men quickly joining her.

'No' he chuckled.

'I know' Rose giggled.

'I doubt that it's a price war' Craig laughed, and after a few moments of chuckling, the three became serious once more.

'They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?' The Doctor suddenly asked.

'No' Rose and Craig both said at the same time.

'But you're still listening' he noted, not noticing that they had both stopped so he continued walking.

'Really though, Doctor. Tell us, who are you?' Rose asked, causing the doctor to stop and turn back to them, taking both of their hands.

'Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving? It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go...' he trailed off, letting their hands go.

'That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose and Craig Tyler' he said softly, and taking the arm he waved it before them.

'Go home' he instructed softly, before he walked away from them, they staying were they were, watching his retreating back, before Craig lightly tugged her hand to get her attention, and starting to walk themselves. They didn't notice the Doctor step into a large blue police box, but they did hear the most beautiful sound, an echoing whirl of wind. Turning, the pair ran back as fast as they could, but seeing nothing but the sun, the two shielded their eyes and glanced around, before they left once more, the words of the Doctor still in their thoughts.


	3. Rose and Craig, Bigger on the Inside

**Here's chapter three, Bigger on the Inside. I've tried to alter this chapter from the episode slightly, and given a small forewarning to an adventure of my own I am planning, but I hope it won't give to much away : ) I also know that this story is starting a little slow, but to be honest, Rose is, as the name suggests, about introducing Rose, so adding another character is a little difficult, so it will get better in the next episode, I hope : ) I sadly don't own Doctor Who, but I do own Craig Tyler. **

**...**

**Rose and Craig – Bigger on the Inside**

After walking for over an hour and still finding no sense in the Doctor's words, the Tylers decided to go to their local library to do some more research. All that they had come up with after spending the whole day there was that a mysterious enigma of a man called the Doctor randomly appeared throughout history, with a little blue box and a wake of destruction where ever he goes.

'Oh this is hopeless, listen to this. Figure 3, a photograph of the happy couple Jack and Rosemary Dawson, with friends, two years after their survival of the sinking of the renowned ship the Titanic in 1912. When asked how they lived through the disaster, they had said that three mysterious strangers had befriended them whilst on the ship and pulled them from the freezing water into their own ship, therefore saving our lives. The most knowledgeable man we have ever met, the man that saved us, all we know about him is that he is some kind of doctor' Craig read aloud from a book.

'It can't be him though can it, I mean that was about ninety years ago' Rose noted.

'Exactly, all these doctors, they can't all be him, what should we do then? I fancy pizza' Craig sighed as he put the book back.

'Yeah, let's go get Mickey, I haven't seen him all day' Rose added.

'Oh and we can't have that, not a lovebird on her lonesome' Craig teased as they left the library and began the walk to Mickey's, only to find he behaving a bit odd, muttering to himself, but regardless they went with him to a nice little Italian restaurant Craig had gone to with his ex-boyfriend once. It wasn't until after their meal had come that the conversation came to the Doctor.

'So, where did you meet this Doctor?' Mickey asked.

'I'm sorry, wasn't I talking about me for a second?' Rose snapped, they had been discussing her options now that she no longer had a job, and talking about the possibility of doing A-levels.

'Because, I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? Is he something to do with that?' Mickey asked slyly.

'No...' Rose said softly.

'Come on' Mickey grinned knowingly.

'Sort of' Rose admitted, but Craig could see she didn't want to talk about it.

'What was he doing there' Mickey pressed, much to Craig's annoyance.

'Just leave it Mickey yeah?' he tried.

'I'm not going on about him, Mickey, I'm not, because, I know it sounds daft but... I don't think he's safe. I think he's dangerous' Rose added.

'But you can trust me sweetheart! Babe, sugar, darling, sugar' Mickey protested, his voice changing between high and lower pitches rapidly, causing Craig and Rose to look at each other in confusion.

'You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Rose. Because that's all I really wanna do, sweetheart, babe, sugar, sweetheart' he spoke again, his voice changing every time him ended his sentence.

'What're you doing that for?' Rose asked in bewilderment, just as a waiter approached the table.

'Your champagne' he stated.

'We didn't order any' Craig replied without looking up, watching as Mickey grabbed Rose's hand.

'Where's the Doctor?' he demanded in a harsh tone, none of them noticing the waiter move around to Rose's side of the table, holding the bottle next to her.

'Ma'am, Your champagne' he tried again.

'It's not ours... Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?' she said ignoring the waiter as well.

'I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?' Mickey demanded threateningly.

'Doesn't anybody want this champagne?' the waiter asked.

Mickey exasperatedly raised his eyes to the waiter for the first time as he began to talk.

'Look, we didn't order i…'he trailed off, as he realised the waiter was actually the man he was looking for, the Doctor.

'Ah. Gotcha' he said grinning triumphantly, as the doctor shook the bottle quickly whilst Craig and Rose glanced up, looking confusedly at him.

'Don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!' he smiled slightly sinisterly, popping the cork of the bottle, which hit Mickey squarely on the forehead, which to Rose's and Craig's astonishment absorbed it before he spat it out of his mouth. It wasn't Mickey they were sitting with; it was one of those living plastic things made to look like him!

'Anyway' Plastic Mickey grinned as his hands turned into clubs and he began smashing the table in, its legs collapsing spending food flying. Rose shrieked as Craig dragged her out of the way, whilst at the same time, the Doctor grabbed the thing's head and began tugging at it, before it finally came off.

'Don't think that's gonna stop me' the head grinned threateningly, causing a couple at a nearby table to scream, but the doctor just grinned, whilst at the same moment, Rose pressed the fire alarm, which immediately began blaring loudly.

'Everyone out! Out now!' she yelled, and everyone began running for the exit, whilst the headless body stayed inside, blindly smashing tables with his club-hands.

'Get out! Get out! Get out!' Craig helped her to shout, before he, Rose, and the Doctor ran through the kitchen and out of a back exit, into a small enclosed area around the back.

With the replica in hot pursuit, the Doctor locked the metal door with his tube thing, whilst Rose and Craig tried desperately to find an escape out of the yard they were in, pulling at the chain of a set of locked gates.

'Open the gate! Use that tube thing, come on!' Rose shouted.

'What, this? This is a sonic screwdriver' The Doctor grinned, holding up said sonic screwdriver.

'Well Use it!' Craig yelled as the sounds of the body hammering on the door began, denting it slightly as it was beginning to be pushed outwards. He was going to break through quickly.

'Nah. Tell ya what, let's go in here' he replied, walking towards a big blue police box in the middle of the yard and unlocked it, just as the body was beginning to make a hole in the doorway.

'We can't hide inside a wooden box!' Rose protested, rattling the chains.

'It's gonna get us!' she screamed.

'Doctor!' Craig yelled, and giving up, he grabbed Rose's arms and forcefully pulled her away from the gate, dragging her into the box with him before slamming the door behind him, but as they took a few steps in, they looked around in shock, and ran straight back out again.

The pair walked around the box once, before pushing at the back side and wall, they were really there! it wasn't some kind of trick, but that was just impossible what they had seen. But they didn't have long to dwell on it, the body had just struck the door again, sending it crashing off its hinged, and the thing was charging towards them, so with no other option, they went back inside.

'It's gonna follow us!' Craig gasped out.

'The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried. Now, shut up a minute' the doctor said, walking around a large panel with buttons, twisters, levers, and things no human could even name on it.

They just stood, shaking slightly, near the door of the box, looking around at how huge it is compared with the outside, but the room was beautiful, they had to admit that. It has struts shaped like huge coral, and the central tank in the centre of the controls was casting a light bluish green light on the metal grate flooring and the bronze walls, which had many hexagon shaped lights on them, before they noticed that the Doctor had wiring up the head of the thing into the controls.

'You see, the arm is too simple, but the head's perfect' he said as if that explained everything, not noticing their overwhelmed faces.

'I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right…' he said as he finished, and turned around to give the frightened siblings his full attention.

'Where do you want to start?' he asked as he crossed his arms.

'Um... the inside's bigger than the outside?' Craig noted, rather calmly in his opinion.

'Yes' he replied simply.

'It's alien' Rose stated, it wasn't a question.

'Yup' he confirmed once more.

'Are you alien?' she asked nervously.

'Yes, is that alright?' he asked but it didn't sound angry, it actually sounded concerned.

'Yeah, just… wow' Craig said as Rose nodded.

'It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space' he explained, just as a small sob escaped Rose.

'That's okay. Culture shock. Happens to the best of us' he said, sounding somewhat sympathetic.

'Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?' Rose asked suddenly.

'Oh... didn't think of that' he shrugged.

'He's her boyfriend. You pulled off his head, they copied him and you didn't even think? And now you're just going to let him melt?!' Craig demanded, gesturing at the now melting head, causing the doctor to whirl around in confusion.

'Oh, no no no no no NO!' he shouted frantically, as he ran around the console pressing buttons and pulling levers.

'What're you doing?!' Rose demanded.

'Reviving the signal, it's fading! Wait I've got it… No No No No No No NO!' he yelled again as the entire room began shaking, and a glass section inside the tank began moving up and down, whilst the beautiful noise they had heard earlier could be heard again.

'Almost there! Almost there! Here we go!' he said loudly, as the noise stopped and the room still.

The Doctor ran out of the TARDIS doors without another word to the pair, but they were on his tail again, following him whilst trying to warn him.

'You can't go out there, it's not safe!' Rose yelled as she stepped outside, Craig right behind her.

'I lost the signal, I got so close.' The doctor said to himself annoyed, whilst the Tylers looked around in confusion. Not only was there no body chasing them, they were in a completely different part of London, now they were miles away, near the Thames opposite Big Ben and the London Eye.

'We've moved! Does it fly?' Craig asked as he got over the initial shock.

'Disappears there, reappears here, you wouldn't understand' the doctor said as he paced around, not sparing them a glance.

'But if we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose' Rose noted.

'It melted with the head, are you going to witter on all night?' he asked in irritation.

'Oh excuse us, we encounter aliens with spaceship that disappear all the time' Craig muttered loud enough to be heard, and he could have sworn he heard to doctor sigh in both amusement to some slight shame.

'I'll have to tell his mother...' Rose sighed sadly, causing the Doctor to look at her questioningly.

'Mickey! I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again!' she shouted angrily, whilst the Doctor rolled his eyes, unconcerned.

'You were right, you ARE alien' as she began to storm off, but Craig stayed still, looking in amazement inside and around the Tardis. He has always thought this type of stuff was for kids stories, but here it was, right in front of his eyes.

'Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey…' the doctor began to argue.

'Yeah, he's not a kid' she cut him off.

'It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, alright?!' he pressed on.

'Alright?!' she yelled in disgust.

'Yes! It is!' he huffed.

'No, it's not, we might not all be aliens like you but Mickey's just as important as everybody else' Craig chimed in here, whilst Rose shook her head disbelievingly, satisfied by the look of guilt flashing over the doctor's features once more.

'If you are an alien, then how comes you sound like you're from the North?' Rose suddenly asked.

'Lots of planets have a North.' He replied, almost defensively as he folded his arms indignantly and looked away.

'What's a police public call box?' Craig asked the Tardis drew his attention once more.

'It's a telephone box from the 1950s, It's a disguise' he grinned as he patted the box fondly, causing both Tylers to smile and shake their heads.

'Okay. And this living plastic, what's it got against us?' Rose questioned, still unable to see how this all tied together.

'Nothing, it loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air... perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth... dinner!' he explained.

'Any way of stopping it?' Craig sighed, wondering why they had got themselves involved in all this.

Grinning, the Doctor produced a tube of blue liquid from his jacket.

'Anti-plastic!' he said happily.

'Anti-plastic...' Rose simply stated in incredulousness

'Anti-plastic! But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?' he thought aloud.

'Hold on... hide what?' Craig queried.

'The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal' the doctor explained.

'What does it look like?' Rose asked, trying to be helpful.

'Like a transmitter. Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London' he stated as he paced around, agitated, looking for a clue.

'A huge circular metal structure. Like a dish...like a wheel. Close to where we're standing. Must be COMPLETELY invisible' he stated as he stopped, before noticing the pair of the looking up at something behind him

'What?' he asked in confusion, and Rose nodded towards the Eye. The Doctor turned around, then back to them, completely nonplussed.

'What?' he asked again, and Craig shook his head, looking at the Eye still. He turned around again but still failed to make the connection, causing them both to chuckle slightly.

'What is it? What?' he asked completely lost and wondering if the shock of the day was causing them to lose it.

'It's round and massive and completely visible, but you still don't see?' Craig asked teasingly, causing to doctor to whirl around again, and finally it clicked.

'Oh... fantastic!' he grinned as he began running towards the famous London landmark, the grinning Tylers right behind him.

...

**And there it is! The next chapter is called The End and the Beginning, and is the last chapter of Rose and Craig, thankfully. So very soon this story can get started properly, and we can see how Craig's presence in this timeline alters the fate of The Doctor, Rose, and even minor characters : ). As always, please feel free to review!**


	4. Rose and Craig, The End & the Beginning

**And here is the finally part of the first episode, and now its onto The End of the World, which is going to be better then Rose and Craig, so please stick with it. I also want to point out that I am not one of those people desperate for reviews raving my work, but I also want this story to be more audience focused, and to do that I need reviews, so please... REVIEW. I do not own Doctor Who, I only own the character Craig Tyler : )**

**...**

**Rose and Craig – The End & The Beginning**

Hand in hand, the Doctor, Craig and Rose ran across London Bridge towards the Eye, before they came to a halt at the foot of the Eye.

'Think of it. Plastic, all over the world. Every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables...' the Doctor imaged in his head, not a pleasant thought at all.

'The breast implants...' Rose added and Craig burst out laughing, that image was pretty funny.

'Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath' the Doctor thought aloud.

Rose ran off to the side of the path and looks down the wall, seeing a manhole in the ground near a dumpster at the base of a ladder.

'What about down here?' she asked and both men ran over to see for themselves.

'Looks good to me' the Doctor smiled, and Craig rolled his eyes, it looked like a dump to him. They quickly climbed the stairs to the manhole, and once the Doctor took the lid off it, red light and smoke poured out, but they all silently climb down the ladder underground.

The Doctor opened the door to another chamber and they went down some more steps, all the while looking around, slightly on edge. The Doctor pointed to a huge, orange, wobbling mass in the middle of the chamber.

'The Nestene Consciousness, that's it, inside the vat. A living, plastic creature' he whispered to them as they silently approached the railing to look down at it.

'Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go' Craig instructed quickly.

'I'm not here to kill it. I've got to give it a chance' the Doctor said annoyed and bitterly, he hoped that these two would be better than to just kill it. They went down some more steps before the Doctor leaned over the railings and addressed the Consciousness.

'I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract. According to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation' he spoke loudly, and Craig just looked at him in awe, he had to be quite brave to simply talk to something that was going to try and take over the world.

The Consciousness flobbled around a bit and shouted something incomprehensible by Craig's ears, but the Doctor seemed to understand.

'Thank you. That I might have permission to approach...' the Doctor said politely, whilst meanwhile, as Rose paced around in behind them, before spotting Mickey and running to him, Craig following her whilst the Doctor rolled his eyes.

'Oh, my God! Mickey! It's okay! It's alright!' she said soothingly as she and Craig squatted down next to him.

'They got me at home; my bin sucked me into it. That thing down there, the liquid, Rose, it can talk!' he sobbed slightly.

'You're stinking! Doctor, they kept him alive!' she called to the doctor.

'Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy' the Doctor shrugged as if this information wasn't of importance to him.

'You knew that and you never said?' Rose snapped, this man could be so unthoughtful and annoying but amazing at other times.

'Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?' he replied sarcastically, before turning back to the consciousness and approaching it, whilst Craig and Rose helped Mickey to his feet.

'Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?' he grinned at his own joke.

The plastic globbered in what they could only guess to be a negative manner.

'Oh don't give me that, it's an invasion! Plain and simple! Don't talk about constitutional rights!' the Doctor said in a raised voice, causing the plastic to rear what appeared to be its head angrily.

'I - am - talking! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf - please, just go' he asked politely, not noticing two dummies approach him from behind, but Craig did!

'Doctor!' he yelled but too late, and they grabbed him, before one of them took the anti-plastic out of his jacket pocket.

'That was just insurance! I wasn't going to USE it' the Doctor tried to explain, but the plastic just globbered angrily at him.

'I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not... what do you mean?' he asked as the plastic babbled something, and behind them two doors clanged open to reveal the Tardis.

'Oh, oh no, honestly, no! Yes, that's my ship' the doctor admitted, causing the plastic to roar in fury and terror.

'That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war, it wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!' the Doctor cried out hysterically.

'What's it doing?!' Rose yelled out.

'It's the TARDIS! The Nestene has identified its superior technology, its terrified! It's going to the final base. It's starting the invasion! Get out, you three! Just leg it! Now!' he shouted at them, but Craig instead pulled out his phone and began dialling a number.

'Mum?!' he called into the phone.

'Oh, there you are, I was just gonna phone one of you. You both can get compensation. I said so. I've got this document thing off the police, don't thank me!' Jackie's voice chirped down the phone.

'Where are you, mum?' he asked quickly, as the roaring of the consciousness got louder.

'I'm in town!' came her reply.

'Go home! Just go home, right now!' he instructed fearfully.

'Darling, you're breaking up, look, I'm just going to do a bit of late night shopping. I'll see you later. Tara!' she said cheerfully, before the line went dead.

'Mum?! Mum!' he tried before turning his phone off and giving his attention back to the situation at hand, the only way to save her was to somehow help the doctor stop the plastic, and no sooner had he had this thought, that the Consciousness sent out a bolt of blue lightning upwards, towards the London Eye's base.

'It's the activation signal! It's transmitting!' the Doctor yelled. Whilst outside the electric blue signal shoots around the Eye.

'The end of the world...' Rose gasped as the activation signal transmits from the Eye.

'Get out, Rose! Just get out! Craig Run!' he yelled to them as part of the ceiling collapsed, shattering the staircase.

'The stairs have gone!' Craig yelled in fear, they were all trapped!

Craig, Rose and Mickey bolted towards the Tardis, where they desperately tried to get into it.

'Oh, we haven't got the key!' Rose cried out.

'We're gonna die!' Mickey sobbed.

'Time Lord! Bad Wolf!' the Consciousness hissed, and shakily, the Doctor turned to face the three humans, who all looked equally scared.

They watched as the Doctor struggled to get to the anti-plastic, and Rose came to a decision, before standing up determinedly.

'Just leave him!' Mickey cried out as Craig joined her.

'There's nothing you can do!' Mickey yelled as the blondes both ran over to the far wall, where Craig picked up an axe, clanging it against two chains hanging down.

'I've got no A Levels and no job... no future. But I tell you what I have got. Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastic team, I got the bronze!' Rose said proudly as she grabbed onto one of the chains.

'Yeah, well this gymnastic stuff is all new to me' Craig grinned as he grabbed the other one, and together they swung across the room over the consciousness, Rose kicking the dummy holding the Doctor hostage, before he flung it down into the Nestene, and Craig knocked the other one in, the one holding the vial of Anti-Plastic. The Consciousness started to writhe and scream, as Rose landed safely in the Doctor's arms at the other side of the gap, Craig landing on his feet next to them.

'Now we're in trouble' the Doctor grinned at them as the Consciousness started to exploded , and running like mad the three charged up the damaged stairs, as outside the signal from the Eye was cut off.

Rose, Craig, the Doctor and Mickey all managed to reach the TARDIS, and grinning they all piled in, before Craig closed the door. Just before the whole chamber went up in flames, the TARDIS disappeared, the sounds of the explosion coming through the walls.

When the doors of the Tardis opened again, they were in an alleyway near the centre of town, far away from the London Eye, before Mickey ran backwards out of the TARDIS and fell over, looking terrified, as he backed against a wall. Rose and Craig, however, stepped out and whilst Craig rang their mother again, Rose went over to her boyfriend.

'Craig! Craig! Don't go out of the house, it's not safe!' Jackie's voice came, causing him to laugh in relief at the sound of her voice.

'There were all of these things! And they were shooting! And they…' she exclaimed, but satisfied that she was alive and uninjured, he cut her off.

'A fat lot of good you were!' Rose said teasingly to Mickey, who just whimpered as the Doctor watched the three of them from the doorway of the Tardis

'Nestene Consciousness, Easy' he grinned as he clicked his fingers.

'You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for us' Craig laughed.

'Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then! I'll be off! Unless, uh... I don't know... you could come with me' he said to the pair of them. They both just looked at him before looking at each other.

'This box isn't just a London hopper, you know, it goes anywhere in the universe free of charge' he added.

'Don't! He's an alien! He's a thing!' Mickey squealed frightened.

'He's NOT invited. What do you think? You could stay here and fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go, uh... anywhere' he said enticingly.

'Is it always this dangerous?' Craig asked.

'Yeah' he nodded honestly, causing Mickey to put his arms around Rose's legs like a little child, stopping her from going forwards, not that she was even moving.

'Yeah, we can't... we've um... gotta go and find our mum and um... someone's gotta look after this stupid lump...' Rose said with a small laugh, patting Mickey on the back. Craig didn't comment, he wanted to go, but he still wasn't sure.

'Okay. See you around' the Doctor said sadly, noticing the intense look they were both giving him, and he could tell that nether had actually made up their minds. The Doctor didn't take his eyes off them, but closed the door as he stepped backwards, and the noise of the engines began to sound as they looked at the vanishing box.

'Come on, let's go' Rose said after a few seconds, and helping Mickey up, the three began walking away. However, the sound of the engines could be heard again, and spinning around on the spot, they could see that the Tardis had reappeared, and the Doctor's had suddenly popped out.

'By the way, did I mention, it also travels in time?' he grinned before withdrawing his head, and that was it, Craig didn't need any more convincing, and grinning widely, he ran inside, leaving the door open in case Rose came.

'Thanks' she said softly to Mickey.

'Thanks for what?' he asked in confusion.

'Exactly' she smiled softly, and after kissing him on the cheek, she ran into the Tardis, her face sporting a broad smile as she shut the door behind her.

...

**And that's the end of Rose and Craig. Not much of a change from the original episode, I know, but this episode is really just to introduce Rose, and for me Craig too! Onto The End of the World, where Craig's affect on the adventures becomes much more active : ) Please read on, and review so I know what I need to improve on in the future!**


	5. The End of the World, Platform One

**So here is The End of the World, the episode and not literally : ) It's called Platform One and begins off the first real adventure of Craig Tyler with the Doctor, hooray! Please note that sadly I do not own Doctor Who, but I am the owner of Craig Tyler, but as of this moment, that's it, and now onto chapter five!**

**...**

**The End of the World**

**The End of the World –Platform One**

'Right then Tylers, where'd you wanna go, to the future or the past' the doctor asked as soon as Rose had closed the door, Craig hovering near the controls. With a shrug, he gestured for Rose to decide.

'The Future, definitely the future' she grinned. She couldn't wait to see what the world would one day be like; if it was earth they landed on.

'How far?' the doctor grinned as he began pulling and turning levers and switches.

'100 years' Craig supplied this time; it was the first number to come to him.

Turning a switch, the engines whooshed for a moment before they stopped again.

'Step out the doors now and we'll be in the twenty second century' the Doctor stated happily, relishing in the disbelieving looks on the human faces before him.

'You've got to be joking' Craig laughed.

'It's a bit boring though really, let's go further' the doctor grinned.

'Fine with me' Rose giggled

The doctor began fiddling with the controls again, and moments later the Tardis had landed once more.

'Ten thousands year in your future, the year 12005, Earth's new roman empire' the doctor stated smugly.

'You think you're so impressive' Rose teased.

'I am so impressive' the doctor said with an enormous pout on his face.

'Well I don't know I'm not impressed very easily, I hope you won't disappoint' Craig whispered in a husky seductive voice whilst Rose burst into laughter, his own way of teasing the doctor. Despite knowing exactly what Craig was meaning, the doctor decided to ignore it and pretend Craig had meant he wasn't impressed with the length of time they had crossed, but he couldn't help but grin and blush at the same time, a strange feeling for him to feel.

'Right then, you two have asked for it, I know exactly where to take us' the doctor grinned, and with a final process of playing with various controls, the Tardis had once again landed, and with a wide smile, the Doctor wandered over to the door, stepping out first, a curious Craig and Rose behind him.

They were in some sort of gallery like room, with three different viewing ledges, a set of stair running in the middle dividing them into six. But instead of their being pictures to see, there was just a huge window as the front wall, and outside was…

'No way, that's Earth' Craig gasped before laughing in astonishment.

'That's beautiful' Rose sighed slightly.

'The human race is so vain' the Doctor laughed, before looking around properly.

'Where are we?' Craig asked, having heard and ignoring what the doctor had said about his species.

'You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying. Like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible. Maybe you survive. This is the year 5.5/apple/26. Five billion years in your future. This is the day... hold on...' he said, looking at his watch. 'This is the day the sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world' he whispered as they looked out at the sun, with instead of the golden colour they were used to, was now a furious red colour.

'I don't spend my time thinking about dying, life is for living, not looking forward or backwards, well, not in the way you do' Craig murmured as two small silvery spaceship floated towards them.

'Good, that's a refreshingly positive attitude for a human' the doctor chuckled.

'Shuttles 5 and 6 now docking, Guests are reminded that platform 1 forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for 15:39, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite' a female computerized said over the apparent speaker system.

'So, when it says 'guests' does that mean people?' Rose asked curiously.

'Depends what you mean by people' the doctor stated confusingly.

'I mean people. What do you mean?' she asked.

'Aliens, right doctor?' Craig asked.

'Exactly, though to them you'd be the aliens' the doctor smiled.

'What are they doing on board this spaceship? What's it all for?' Rose questioned.

'It's not really a spaceship. More like an observation deck. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn' the doctor explained.

'What for?' she pressed.

'Fun' was the simple reply.

'Oh yeah great fun, watching a planet die' Craig sighed.

'Things have changed a lot since you're time' the doctor said softly.

'Mind you, when I said the great and the good, what I mean is the rich' he suddenly clarified.

'But, hold on, they did this once on Newsround Extra, the sun expanding, that takes hundreds of years' noted Rose.

'Millions, but the planet's now property of the National Trust. They've been keeping it preserved. See down there?' the doctor said, pointing out the window at tiny glints of light orbiting the Earth, 'Gravity satellite. That's holding back the sun'

'The planet looks the same as ever. In geography we were told that the continents and islands shifted with tectonic plates and things' Craig said in confusion.

'They did. And the trust shifted them back. That's a classic Earth. But now the money's run out, nature takes over!' he grinned, slightly too much considering a planet was about to end.

'How long has it got?' Craig murmured, he wasn't sure if he wanted to watch his world end or not.

The Doctor looks at his watch before replying 'About half an hour. And the planet gets roasted'.

'Must you be so happy about it' Craig asked.

'Sorry' the doctor said, looking reasonably ashamed for his happiness.

'Is that why we're here? I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?' Rose suddenly asked.

'I'm not saving it. Time's up' the doctor said kind of coldly.

'But what about everyone still down there, you saved the world in 2005, why not now' Craig demanded.

'It's empty! They're all gone. All left' the doctor defended.

Rose and Craig looked back to the window, realization spreading across their faces.

'We're the last humans then' she whispered.

'Just don't expect us to repopulate' Craig said to try and lift the mood slightly, getting a burst of laughter from the doctor and a weak chuckle from Rose. She was about to respond with a witty comment, but was cut off as a voice came from behind them.

'Who the hell are you?' a sharp voice demanded, and turning, the Tylers mouth dropped slightly, for there stood a man, human in shape, wearing a brown long coat and skull cap, a small pale blue gem on his forehead, but the startling thing about him was that his skin was a very dark blue.

'Oh that's nice, hello to you too' Craig chuckled, getting over the surprize first.

'He's right, thanks a lot' the doctor smirked slightly.

'But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked! They're on their way any second now!' the man demanded

'That's me; I'm a guest, look! I've got an invitation!' the doctor said, flashing a small leather wallet with a blank bit of paper towards the man.

'Look, there you see? It's fine, see? The Doctor plus two. I'm the Doctor; this is Rose and Craig Tyler. They're my plus two. That all right?' the doctor rattled off, and Craig had to be amazed at how naturally he had thought of all that on the spot.

'Well... obviously' the man muttered, obviously embarrassed whilst the doctor grinned.

'Apologies et cetera. If you're on-board, we'd better start. I am the Steward of Platform One, please follow me to the main event room, and enjoy' he said as he led them out of the room they were in, to a white ballroom like room, with another huge towering window, this one showing a slightly different angle of the Earth and the sun.

'What was on the paper' Craig asked as the steward moved over to a small stand with a microphone on it.

'The paper's slightly psychic. Shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time' the doctor explained, showing it to them.

'Handy' Craig commented.

'He's blue' was all Rose could say.

'Yeah' the doctor simply replied with.

'Okay...' she said, before the steward began talking through the speakers with the microphone.

'We have in attendance, The Doctor, Rose Tyler, and Craig Tyler. Thank you! All staff to their positions' he said, and within seconds a hoard a much smaller blue people wearing bulky black helmets marched into the room, going about their various tasks.

'Hurry now! Thank you, as quick as we can! Come along, come along! And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest, representing the forest of Cheem, we have Trees. Namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa' the steward continued, and in marched three humanoid figures through the doors, pale green in colour with skin like bark. They were clearly made from tree wood, the female, Jabe, was decked in a scarlet and golden dress tight fitting to her slender figure, whilst her escorts Lute and Coffa were wearing identical black leather suit suits lined with golden thread at the cuffs.

'Oh my god, they actually are trees' Craig stammered out in shock, this was all getting a bit over the top.

'Yes they are, but don't be rude' the doctor chided.

'There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you can keep the room circulating, thank-you. Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, the Moxx of Balhoon' as the steward said this, in came a small blue creature, with a head curved into two almost like a heart, a tubby wrinkly body, with frog like feet sitting in a silver hovering chair glided into the room. This was getting weirder and weirder by the second, and Rose looked ready to freak out, whilst Craig looked slightly less unnerved, but only slightly.

'And next, from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme' as the steward introduced them, six figure in flurry jet black cloaks which hid their true identity walked in. The doctor chuckled at the increasingly surprised looks on their faces.

'The inventors of hyposlip travel systems, the brothers Hop Pyleen. Thank you!' in came two tall beings with blackish blue scaly round heads, small black eyes, one wearing a toga like outfit of pure white, the other a similar outfit in jet black/

'Cal 'Spark Plug'' two creatures with robotic mask like faces, one wearing a greyish flowing cloak and headpiece, the other with a golden version of the dress wear.

'Mr and Mrs Pakoo' a married couple of bird like beings, with large brown feathery heads and dark coloured beaks wearing black silk.

'The Ambassadors from the City State of Binding Light' two deep pink skinned creatures with large bulbous like heads, wearing scarlet coloured robes, with one carrying a small white book. As they entered the mix, Jabe walked gracefully over to the Doctor. On either side of her, her companions were holding plant trays with tiny shoots sprouting from them.

'The Gift of Peace' Jabe announced, 'I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather' she smiled, handing the doctor one of the plant pots, which he gave to Craig.

'Thank you!' the doctor smiled gratefully.

'Err Gifts…' before clearing his throat and started feeling his jacket for something but finding nothing.

'In return, we present you with three golden hairs, in hopes that they bare you good fortune' Craig said to cover for the doctor, gently plucking three hairs out of his skull and handing them to Jabe.

'Such a beautiful colour, Thank you' she sighed, tying them in a loop and slipping them in her pocket as the three walked away.

'Nice save, thanks' the doctor said as the Moxx of Balhoon came over, whilst the steward caught all attention once more.

'Sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Boe' he announced as a huge head in an equally huge jar was wheeled through the doors by the staff. The face was dark flesh tone in colour, had tentacle like hair, and had large eyes which seemed to see through all things in the room. The Moxx of Balhoon turned his attention back to the Doctor, Craig and Rose.

'The Moxx of Balhoon' the doctor smiled.

'My felicitations on this historical happenstance. I give you the gift of bodily saliva' the alien replied, before spitting, directly on Craig's forehead. Once they had thanked him and he had moved away, the doctor and Rose burst out laughing, as Craig scowled and quickly wiped it off, onto the doctor's jacket.

'Thanks' the doctor smiled as Craig smirked, though good naturedly, before the Adherents of the Repeated Meme approached them.

'Ah! The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. I bring you three hairs of gold from my companions head' the doctor grinned as he non to gently pulled some more hair from Craig's head.

'A gift of peace in all good faith' the leader spoke in an echoing, slightly electronic voice. He held out a large silver sphere, which the Doctor took, threw up into the air and caught, before he handed it to Rose.

'And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and Gentlemen, and Trees and Multiforms. Consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth The Last Human' the steward finally made his last introduction, and once more, Rose and Craig's mouths dropped open, as in came the last human, but not human like at all. The being looked like a vertical trampoline made of human skin with two blue eyes fixed in place, and bright red lipstick around the mouth. Attached beneath was a jar of blue liquid, with what was unmistakably a brain floating in it.

'The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen'

'Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference! Look how thin I am' Cassandra boosted, and the doctor shook with silent giggles.

'Thin and dainty! I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturize me, moisturize me' she whispered to one of two men in white boiler suits who were accompanying her. He sprayed her with a white nozzle, keeping the skin from drying up.

'Truly, I am The Last Human' she said proudly, not seeing as Rose crept to look at her from every angle, seeing her as being completely flat and slightly translucent.

'My father was a Texan. My mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in the soil, I have come to honour them and... Say goodbye. Oh, no tears' she sniffed, and one of the bodyguards wiped her eyes for her.

'No tears. I'm sorry. But behold! I bring gifts. From Earth itself - the last remaining ostrich egg' she announced, and one of the staff hurried forwards, a large egg on a black cushion, displaying it to the room.

'Legend says it had a wingspan of 50 feet and blew fire from its nostrils' she stated, and Craig had to bite his lip to not burst into hysterical laughter on the floor, whilst Rose looked mildly confused.

'Or was that my third husband?' she added, causing most of the audience to chuckle

'Who knows? Oh don't laugh. I'll get laughter lines!' Cassandra giggled, as from behind her a large wooden Jukebox was wheeled into the room.

'And here, another rarity. According to the archives, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers' again she was wrong, but it was so funny Craig, the doctor, and by now even Rose were trying their hardest not to roll around laughing.

'Play on!' Cassandra called, and suddenly the room was filled with the sound of Tainted Love by Soft Cell, with the doctor doing a little bobbing dance with his head in time with the music.

'Refreshments will now be served. Earth Death in 30 minutes' the stewards called to the room, and soon all the guest were chatting socially amongst themselves.

Rose had a lost, overwhelmed expression on her face. Everywhere she looked there were aliens, but no other humans, other than her brother, it was all too much! She practically fled from the gallery, whilst a concerned Craig and Doctor started to follow her, but were stopped by Jabe.

'Doctor? Mr Tyler?' she said, as with a small device in her hand took what Craig assumed to be a photograph.

'Thank you' she smiled as she walked away, and more concerned about his sister, Craig rushed out the room to find her, the doctor just behind him, passing the Steward with the leader of the Repeated Meme, who was offering his one of their silver spheres.

**...**

**And there it is! The first part of The End of the World : ) My plan is for each adventure to follow the setting out of Rose and Craig and have four chapters, with double episode having eight! Still sticking to the script closely for now, with a little straying with Craig's golden hair, but the next chapter is called Tree & Skin & Face, and has some illuminating conversations! Please Review any questions or ideas and I get back to you : )**


	6. The End of the World, Tree & Skin & Face

**And here is the next segment of The End of the World : ) A little forewarning in this chapter provided by a certain billion year old face, and Craig manages to get the doctor to open up a little better than Rose managed too! Oh, and my favourite bit of this chapter, Craig and the Doctor's timing causes a minor character to be saved! I don't own Doctor Who, but I do own Craig Tyler : ) Enjoy!**

**...**

**The End of the World – Tree & Skin & Face**

Looking for Rose was harder than expected, Platform One was too big! Craig thought as he had practically led the doctor through several seemingly endless corridors at a brisk pace, the alien getting smugger and smugger as the human had still yet to led them to the correct place. Just as they were about to return to the main room on the off chance that Rose had gone back, they heard a loud shriek of surprize from just around the corner, and rushing there, they saw a pair of legs frantically waving around from a large vent.

'Help!' a female voice cried, and seizing a leg each, the Doctor and Craig struggled for a few moments before they pulled the lady free, falling on the floor in a tangled heap. After disentangling themselves and standing up, the saw that the woman was also a member of the blue staff, and was roughly the same height as the steward.

'Are you alright?' the doctor immediately asked, sounding concerned.

The woman looked scared and uneasy on her feet.

'I think so, but those creatures, so small but so strong' she whispered in a terrified voice.

'What creatures, what did they look like?' Craig asked in a reassuring voice, trying to be helpful.

'Like small silvery metal spiders, with a red light for an eye' the woman replied, calming down slightly.

'What was your name?' the Doctor asked.

'Raffalo sir, my name's Raffalo' Raffalo answered.

'Right Raffalo, I'm the Doctor, me and my mate Craig here are looking for a blonde woman who looks a bit likes him' he said, pointing a Craig.

'The kind woman looked like your species, and she had golden hair, she went that way' Raffalo said, pointing down the corridor towards the gallery door. Of Course that was where Rose would have gone!

'Thanks' Craig smiled.

'It still might not be safe, to be on the safe side go to the main function room, tell the Steward what happened, but be sure not to tell any guests' the Doctor advised, to which Raffalo nodded, after all, they didn't need to cause a panic.

'Yes Sir, and thank you both, for saving my life' she smiled gratefully, before hurrying in the direction they had come from.

'Metal Spiders? What's that about' Craig asked as soon as she was out of sight.

'I don't know, but I think we should find Rose as soon as possible' the Doctor replied in a very serious voice.

…

Meanwhile, Rose was sitting on the steps in the gallery, throwing the egg repeatedly into the air and catching it.

'Earth Death in 25 minutes. Earth Death in 25 minutes' said the computer over the speakers.

'Lovely, just what I need to think about right now' she muttered sarcastically. She had been sitting lost in her bizarre thoughts for a good few minutes now, and was wondering just how she had come to be here. She hadn't thought, she nor Craig, they had just blindly followed the Doctor into this new world, and they didn't know anything about him, not even his name. He was a complete and utter stranger, and could have anything in mind for them!

Turning away from these thoughts, she picked up the small pot with Jabe's grandfather's trimming in it, having retrieved it from Craig whilst they were in the main room. After all, Craig had once been nicknamed Black – Fingers, as he certainly wasn't much of a gardener.

'Hello! My name's Rose. That's a sort of plant. We might be related...' she chuckled, before she suddenly realized what she was doing and hurriedly put the plant down.

'I'm talking to a twig' she said dryly, not noticing the small clicking noise from behind her, or that the sphere was been half open as a spider climbed out. It appeared to be scanning her hand, but she was completely oblivious. It jumped and scurried into a small air vent when the Doctor's voice suddenly floated through the door.

'Rose? Are you in there?' he asked as he opened the door, and in he came, Craig at his side.

'Aye aye!' as he sat on the other side of the stairs, whilst Craig sat on the level above hers on her side.

'What do you think, then?' the Doctor began the conversation.

'Great! Yeah... fine. Once you get past the slightly psychic paper...' she said, though Craig instantly knew it was with false cheer, this was getting a bit too much for her.

The Doctor laughed, before there was a short pause, as none of them seemed to know what to add next.

'They're just, so alien' she stated, causing the Doctor to look at her questioningly.

'The aliens, are so alien. You look at 'em... and they're alien' she elaborated.

'Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South' the doctor commented.

'Where are you from?' she suddenly asked.

'All over the place' he said evasively

'That's a lousy answer' Craig commented for the first time.

'They all speak English' Rose noted, changing the subject without warning.

'No you just hear English. It's a gift of the TARDIS. Telepathic field, gets inside your brain, translates' the doctor explained, not realising he was making a terrible mistake.

'It's inside our brains?' Rose said disbelievingly.

'Well, in a good way' the doctor added.

'Your machine gets inside my head. It gets inside and it changes my mind, and you didn't even ask?' she was starting to sound slightly angry.

'I didn't think about it like that' the doctor said, clearly thrown by her reaction.

'No! You were too busy thinking up cheap shots about the Deep South! Who are you then, Doctor? What are you called? What sort of alien are you?'

The Doctor sat up and looked away from them.

'I'm just The Doctor' he stated, starting to sound impatient with her attitude. It wasn't as if the Tardis was violating her privacy, she would never invade or change another's thoughts, not without permission from that person first!

'From what planet?' Rose demanded.

'Well, it's not as if you'll know where it is!' the Doctor pointed out.

'Where are you from?!' she persisted.

'What does it matter?' he countered with, before Craig broke into the argument.

'Can we at least have a name, we did trust you enough to let you bring us here, without even knowing you' he pointed out. The doctor sighed, this wasn't how it was supposed to be, their first trip, but he had to admit, they were good and he wanted them to keep travelling with him, and only by being honest would that happen, and so with a deep breathe, he prepared himself for what he was about to explain.

'I'm a Time Lord, the last of the Time Lords, my planet was called Gallifrey, it's gone now' he said softly.

'What happened?' Rose asked her voice much softer now.

'There was a war, and we lost. The Time Lords fought a race of creatures who wanted to destroy all life within the universe; my people had to stop them'

'You said you were the last, what about the other Time Lords?' Craig asked, already having an idea on the answer.

'Dead, all of them dead, except for me. But they saved the universe, they destroyed the opponents too, so maybe, just maybe, it was a reasonable price' the doctor sighed once more, and deciding that was enough for now, Craig decided to change the subject, if only slightly.

'Did they all have titles like yours, or did some have names?' he asked.

'We all pick our titles on graduation, but we all have names that only we are allowed to tell other people, and even then it was very rare for a time lord to divulge their greatest secret like that' the doctor replied.

'So that's why you won't tell us' Rose realised, it was part of his culture, she should have thought about it more, the doctor was lonely, that was why he had wanted them to come along with him!

Everything went quiet for a moment after that, and Rose stepped up and went to look out the window.

'Alright... as my mate Shareen says... don't argue with the designated driver...' she stated.

The Doctor, with his back turned to her, smiled at that, as Rose got her mobile out of her pocket.

'Can't exactly call for a taxi... there's no signal. We're out of range. Just a bit!' she continued, moving the phone around through the air, causing the Doctor to start chuckling.

'Tell you what, give me your phone, both of you; he said, and handing him the phones, both Tylers watched as he fiddled around with them for a few moments with the Sonic Screwdriver, before handing them back. Rose took hers back a bit uncertainly, but when he nodded, she dialled their mother's number, and looked stunned when her mother's phone came down the phone. They were actually talking across time, which was so brilliant!

'Hello?' the voice of Jackie Tyler said chirpily.

'Mum?' Rose asked, as if it would be someone else and not her mother from billions of years ago.

'Oh, what is it? What's wrong? What have I done now? Oh, this red top's falling to bits! You should get your money back. Go on! There must be something, you never phone in the middle of the day!' she rambled on, causing Rose to laugh, sounding slightly relieved.

'What's so funny?' Jackie asked confused.

'Nothing! You all right, though?' Rose queried.

'Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?' came the response.

'What day is it?' Rose asked.

'Wednesday. All day. You got a hangover? Oh, I tell you what, put a quid in that lottery syndicate, I'll pay you back later' Jackie replied.

'Yeah, um, I was just calling 'cause me and Craig might be late home, we've gone out with someone' she said, looking at the Doctor who smiled.

'Is there something wrong?' Jackie suddenly asked.

'No! I'm fine! Top of the world!' the three of them silently chuckled at the little joke, and clearly Jackie had put the phone down as Rose returned her mobile to her pocket, looking kind of stunned.

'Think that's amazing, you want to see the bill' the Doctor joked, seeing her expression.

'That was 5 billion years ago. So… she's dead now. Five billion years later, my mum's dead' she whispered

'When, at least you were right about Rose Doctor' Craig joked to try and lighten the mood, once again.

'Yes! I knew I was right about one of ya, but Craig's right, a right bundle of laughs today' the Doctor smiled at her. Suddenly the entire room jerked slightly, and there was a great clattering noise from somewhere above them.

'What was that?' Rose asked.

'No idea, cause that's not supposed to happen' was the reply.

…

'Honoured guests may be reassured that gravity pockets may cause slight turbulence, thanking you' said the Steward's voice over the speakers as they hurried through the corridors.

Walking back into the Manchester Suite, The guests seemed completely obvious to there being any problem, they were all talking happily with each other.

'This is the Bad Wolf scenario' the Moxx of Balhoon was saying to The Face of Boe as they passed.

'Bad Wolf' Craig paused his walking, and thought that those words meant something to him, but he couldn't quite place it in his mind, so shrugging, he hurried to quicken his pace back to the Doctor's, as Jabe approached them.

'What do you think, Jabe? Listen to the engines, they've pitched up about 30 hertz, is that dodgy or what?' her questioned her.

'It's the sound of metal, it doesn't make any sense to me' Jabe shrugged.

'Where's the engine room?' he asked.

'I don't know... but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest's suite, I could show you. And... Your lovers' she said, gesturing towards Rose and Craig.

'Oh, no, they're not my lovers' the doctor immediately clarified.

'It's ok Doctor, we can be ourselves with Jabe' Craig whispered, beginning to pretend to stroke his arm lovingly.

'Get off!' he laughed.

'So are they your family?' Jabe giggled.

'Nope' was the simple reply.

'We're his travelling Companions' Rose chipped in.

'So, you two coming with us?' the doctor asked.

'Actually, I fancy a quick word with Michael Jackson' Rose said, and nodding politely at Jabe, she made her way over to Cassandra.

'Don't start a fight' the Doctor warned teasingly, whilst offering an arm to Jabe, which she took.

'I'll stay here too Doctor' Craig stated.

'Looks like I'm all yours then' the doctor smiled at Jabe.

'But I want him back to myself by midnight Jabe!' Craig grinned after them, and without them turning back, he heard them both laugh as the doors slid shut behind them.

…

'Earth Death in 15 minutes. Earth Death in 15 minutes.' The computer counted down as the Doctor and Jabe were walking through very narrow maintenance corridor tunnels, leading towards the centre of Platform One.

'Who's in charge of Platform One? Is there a captain or what?' the Doctor asked her.

'There's just the steward and the staff. All the rest is controlled by the metal mind' she explained.

'You mean the computer? But who controls that?' he queried.

'The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to another' Jabe stated, causing the doctor to stop and pause, lost in deep thought.

'But there's no one from the corporation on board' he guessed after a few moments.

'They're not needed. This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the alpha class. Nothing can go wrong' Jabe assured him.

'Unsinkable?' he grinned.

'If you like. The nautical metaphor is appropriate' she smiled knowingly.

'You're telling me. I was thinking of getting onto another unsinkable ship, in fact I might take Rose and Craig there soon' he said, 'So, what you're saying is, if we get in trouble there's no one to help us out?'

'I'm afraid not' her voice sounding slightly nervous.

'Fantastic' he grinned manically, setting off walking again.

'I don't understand. In what way is THAT fantastic?' Jabe frowned as she followed after him.

How were they to know that just behind them, obscured by some dangling wires, a mechanical spider crept out from it hiding place.

…

Back in the Manchester Suite, Rose had started up a conversation with Cassandra, the two of them were looking out of the window and the sun, a view of the earth was below them, ready to burn.

'Soon, the sun will blossom into a red giant, and my home will die. That's where I used to live, when I was a little boy. Down there. Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice. I had such fun' Cassandra said sounding mournful.

'What happened to everyone else? The Human Race, where did it go?' Rose asked, rather bluntly.

'They say Mankind has touched every star in the sky' Cassandra stated ominously.

'So, you're NOT the last human' Rose said, confused as to why she was being introduced as that then.

'I am the last PURE human. The others... mingled' was the reply, a tone of heavy disgust in her voice.

'Oh, they call themselves 'New Humans' and 'Proto-humans' and 'Digi-humans' even 'Human-ish' but you know what I call them? Mongrels' Cassandra lowered her voice to a hateful whisper.

'Right. And you stayed behind' Rose pointed out the stupidity of what Cassandra had done to herself. She had practically degenerated herself.

'I kept myself pure' Cassandra proudly stated.

'How many operations have you had?' Rose asked, starting to sound annoyed at Cassandra's attitude.

'708. Next week, it's 709, I'm having my blood bleached. Is that why you wanted a word? You could be flatter, Rose. You've got a little bit of a chin poking out' she whispered, and Rose looked appalled.

'I'd rather die' she spat.

'Honestly, it doesn't hurt…' Cassandra cooed.

'No, I mean it. I'd rather die. It's better to die than live like you, a bitchy trampoline' Rose sneered coldly.

'Oh well. What do you know?' Cassandra sniffed.

'I was born on that planet, as was my brother. And so was our mum, and so was our dad and that makes us officially the last human beings in this room, 'cause you're not human. You've had it all nipped and tucked and flattened till there's nothing left. Anything human got chucked in the bin. You're just skin, Cassandra. Lipstick and skin. Nice talking' she said, before storming across the room and out the sliding doors once more.

She failed to notice as she went Cassandra glance at The Adherents of the Repeated Meme, who in turn watched her heatedly rush out the room.

…

Craig had been leaning against a wall, sipping on a drink he had been given by one of the staff members. It had an unusual taste, like lemon, pineapple, and melon all mixed into one, it was quite nice. He had been looking more closely at the Aliens, before he noticed Rose storm away from Cassandra and out the room. He was about to go after her, but he had barely made it more than three steps before he was approached by the Face of Boe.

'Ah, Craig Tyler, so long ago was the last time I saw you' he said, without moving his mouth, and Craig was sure the words were in his own mind.

'What? We have met each other?' Craig asked very confused, enough so to forget that he was about to go after Rose.

'Well that's my dependant on your perspective, in yours, we are close to meeting but not yet, in mine, I met you thousands of years ago, at Big Ben aglow in the fire light' he stated mysteriously.

'Big Ben, so we met back home in London, or I will meet you?' Craig asked.

'Well, I shouldn't say too much, it could destroy the time lines, but I just had to talk to you, I missed you greatly' he sighed sadly, like he was remembering a great loss.

'Was our meeting with the doctor?' Craig probed for information.

'Our first encounter was pretty intense, wonderful, and our travels after that together were the best times of my extremely long lifetime, but I was very different back then, I was like you, a human shown the wonders of the universe by the doctor'

'You were human? Were we … together?' he asked after a moment's thought.

'That, I cannot say, but listen closely to what I say now, never give up trying to find the doctor again' The Face whispered warningly.

'What do you mean, he's with Jabe' Craig stated, causing the face to let out a deep chuckle.

'I mean in your future dear boy, there will be a time, oh so far from now but yet to close, when you will be close to giving up hope, to the point of desperation and depression, but remember, no matter what, there is always hope, and there is always a way back, just be patient, and know you will be greatly missed, and always loved' the face smiled, but before Craig could ask what he meant, he moved away, leaving a rather unnerved and slightly frightened human child alone.

...

**Oh, that's Interesting! So what is Craig Tyler to the younger version of the Foe of Boe, and what is this lack of hope Craig seems to be having in the future? Take a guess and review, and if you're right I might just tell you! Kidding, that would spoil the story! : ) But please review your opinions and ideas for this story!**


	7. The End of the World, The Trouble Maker

**And here is the third part of part of The End of the World. Sticks to the script fairly well, with Craig taking a few little digs at Cassandra, but it paves the way into the final part of this story, which might I forewarn, has a slightly alternate ending Hehehe! I still do not own Doctor Who, but I do own Craig Tyler : )**

**...**

**The End of the World – The Trouble Maker**

The Doctor and Jabe were still making their way down the corridor, the low ceiling forcing them to stoop slightly, as the conversation became slightly more personal.

'So, tell me, Jabe. What's a tree like you doing in a place like this?' the doctor asked, after all, she had a similar spirit to those of his companions, so why she was attending an events like this was beyond him.

'Respect for the Earth' she stated with a knowing smile.

'Oh, come on. Everyone on this platform's worth zillions' he scoffed.

'Well... perhaps it's a case of having to be seen at the right occasions' she admitted.

'In case your share prices drop? I know you lot. You've got massive forests everywhere, roots everywhere, and there's always money in land' he grinned at her.

'All the same. You respect the Earth as family. So many species evolved from that planet. Mankind is only one. I'm another. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet down below. And I'm a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest' she said, pride lining her features whilst the Doctor actually looked impressed, before noticing a control panel on the wall.

'Excuse me' he said, before getting out his sonic screwdriver and began prodding the screen with it, trying to get a better idea as to what had caused the platform to shudder.

'And what about your ancestry, Doctor? Perhaps you could tell a story or two... perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left… I scanned you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species, it refused to admit your existence' Jabe said cautiously.

'And even when it named you, I wouldn't believe it. But it was right' she said, and as he turned around to face her, she saw that deep sadness was being reflected out of the doctor's eyes.

'I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even exist. I just want to say... how sorry I am' she said in a hushed voiced, placing a comforting hand on his arm. His eyes were filled with tears as he placed a hand over hers, and a single slipped down his cheek. He quickly turned back to the panel and finished the scan, before they set off once more, heading through another door.

...

Meanwhile, after leaving Rose decided she needed to blow off some steam and have some time alone, so wandering through the corridors, she was looking for a place to just sit. As she turned a corner, The Adherents of the Repeated Meme were coming from the other side. She smiled at them politely, but before she could react, the leader had suddenly raised an arm up, backhanding her across the face. Little out a gasp of surprise, she hit the floor, and immediately fell unconscious, not feeling as she was dragged by her feet into another room.

Leaving her sprawled on the ground, her attackers marched from the room, sealing the door and lock behind them.

'It is done, mistress' the leader droned, seemingly speaking to somebody somewhere else, before they briskly marched back towards the main function suite, before they absence would be noticed.

…

Craig was standing where the Face of Boe had left him, a feeling of dread turning through his stomach. Something would one day happen to him, something terrible, something that could even kill him, but he had no clue as to what. And even if he did know, could he or the doctor change it, after all, if the Face of Boe had told he about it and then he changed that, he would never have been told about it so he would never he changed it, God it was so confusing. He decided that for now he would push it to the back of his mind, and found a welcome distraction as Cassandra began calling across the room.

…

The Doctor and Jabe had found themselves inside the huge ventilation chamber. There were three huge fans circulating at an alarming speed, a small bridge beneath them. On a panel to the side, a huge lever was clamped up.

'Is it me, or is it a bit nippy?' the doctor asked as the fans were throwing cold air at them both.

'Fair do's, though, that's a great bit of air conditioning. Sort of, nice and old fashioned. Bet they call it 'retro'' he grinned, before he started scanning another control panel, this one high above their heads on the wall.

'Gotcha' he cried as the panel fell off, before a metal spider scuttled out and scurried across the wall, getting further away from them.

'What that's thing, is it part of the 'retro'?' Jabe asked as they watched it.

'I don't think so, these things nearly killed one of the staff on-board, would have if me and Craig hadn't found her in time, Hold on.' He muttered, pointing the screwdriver at the spider, trying to get his aim clear enough to hit it. But Jabe simply fired up a sort of vine from her hand, which hit the spider and effortless disabled it. It fell towards the ground, the doctor managing to catch it before it hit the floor.

'Hey! Nice liana!' the doctor smiled at her.

'Thank you! I'm not supposed to show them in public' she grinned cheekily.

'Don't worry, I won't tell anybody' he promised, before turning his attention to the spider in his hand.

'Now then. Who's been bringing their little pets on board?' he thought aloud.

'What does it do?' Jabe asked curiously.

'Murder, Protects something, sabotage, take ya pick' he shrugged.

'Earth Death in 10 minutes' the computer reminded them

'With the temperature about to rocket, Come on' and with that, the pair dashed out of the chamber, racing back to where the trouble was like to kick off, back in the Manchester Suite.

…

'The planet's end. Come gather! Come gather! Bid farewell to the cradle of civilization' Cassandra called to the room, and soon the aliens had all gathered around the window, Craig surprized to find himself next to the Face of Boe.

Looking around to make sure nobody was paying them any attention, he lowered his voice to a whisper.

'You tell me right now, whoever you are, what you were warning me about before' he demanded, hearing a sigh inside his mind.

'Young Craig, I am so sorry but it must never be changed, I cannot tell you what will happen, but I will tell you, your sacrifice will never be forgot, you will have saved so many people, in so many places, that Craig Tyler's name shall live on forever'.

'Ok, you don't wanna tell me, fine, but who are you, how do I know that you're not some freaky alien trying to get his kicks by freaking me out' he said sourly, surprized when the Face of Boe actually chuckled.

'After so long, I still have never forgot the ways in which that brilliant mind of yours works, but relax, I told you I was human, but not only that, I was very, very hot' he laughed, and Craig chuckled slightly.

'And clearly not modest, well I guess I can't make you tell me, but I'm kinda looking forwards to meeting you now' he admitted.

'I remember it so well' the Face of Boe sighed, as Cassandra's voice broke into their thoughts once more.

'Let us mourn her with a traditional ballade' she sighed, and suddenly booming through the speakers came Toxic by Britney Spears. Craig burst out laughing, getting some strange looks from those around him, and clasping his hand over his mouth, he moved to the back of the crowd.

…

Hurrying back through the corridors, The Doctor and Jabe quickly found a minor commotion. Outside a locked room, several of the small members of staff, and Raffalo, were outside, trying to open a locked door whilst thick smoke poured out from the crack beneath the door and the floor, causing them all to cough.

'Raffalo, what is it, what's happening' he asked of her in concern when they approached the group.

'It's the Steward sir, I think he's dead' she gasped.

'He is, you can smell him' he said slightly harsher than he had intended.

'I told him sir, like you said, about the spiders, and he went in there to do a system scan. When he never came back to the function room, I came looking, and found it like this' Raffalo explained hurriedly.

'Hold on, there's another filter about to be lowered, you two go on, and be quick' he said, and on the run again, the doctor went down another corridor, whilst Jabe and Raffalo returned to the Manchester Suite.

…

Rose had been initially confused and dazed to find herself lying on the floor, but as she rubbed her head clear, she realised that she didn't have time to dwell on it. For she found herself in front of the window in the gallery, only the window was starting to burn and magnify a bright white light, causing the ceiling and walls to burn to a crisp state.

'Sun Filter, descending, Sun Filter, descending' the computer chanted, almost like it was taunting her.

'Help, Let me out, let me out' she cried, running to the door and pounding on it, finding it locked, as the wave of light began to lower, getting closer all the time.

'Open the door!' she cried, startling when she heard a familiar voice on the other side.

'Oh well it would be you' the doctor's muffled voice said.

'Open the door!' she cried.

'Hold on! Give us two ticks!' came the reply, as by now the whole room was beginning to smoke.

'Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending.'

She heard the buzzing sound of the Sonic Screwdriver for a few moments, before a different sound came.

'Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising' the computer said, and indeed the lights started moving upwards, the window beginning to seal itself. She could just imagine the doctor on the other side of the door with a smug grin on his face as she sighed in relief.

'Sunfilter rising... Sunfilter descending' the computer suddenly changed, and the light began to creeping down towards her again.

'This is just what we need. The computer's getting clever.' The doctor sounded irritated, like he was simply losing a game of chess or something.

'Will you stop mucking about!' she snapped.

'I'm not mucking about, it's fighting back!' the doctor protested.

'Open the door!' she cried out.

'Hang on!' was the short reply. But it was getting too close, she could literally feel the heat atop her head, and running down the steps, Rose flattened herself against the floor.

'The locks melted!' she shouted, seeing it twist into a black swirl of metal.

'Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending'

'Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising' it started going up once more, and running to the door whilst panting, Rose tried to force it open, but to no avail.

Clearly the doctor was having no luck on his side either, for he soon called out.

'The whole thing's jammed. I can't open the doors. Stay there! Don't move!'

'Where're am I gonna go?! Ipswich?!' She scoffed in a terrified kind of sarcasm.

And to make things just that little be better, the computer informed her that the Earth was going to die in just five minutes time.

…

'Can I have everyone's attention please?' Jabe's voice called out, and turning, Craig saw her bearing a worried expression. Raffalo was leaning against a wall, clutching at her chest and breathing deeply, like she had just been running.

He noticed that Cassandra seemed very put out as Jabe took control of the room, when the doctor suddenly reappeared through the door, a fearful and determined expression on his face.

'What is it, what's happening?' he immediately asked as the doctor stopped next to him, as Jabe drew out her pocket machine, and began scanning a metal spider in her hand.

'Somebody's killed the Steward, tried to just kill Rose' he whispered.

'What?!' he breathed, sure he had heard wrong.

'She's alright, but the door to the gallery which she's in had been melted, I can't get her out yet' the doctor murmured back. Craig went to move, but the Doctor gripped his arm, shaking his head slightly. With a low sigh, Craig stopped and nodded weakly.

'The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of platform one' Jabe informed the room.

'How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturize me, moisturize me' Cassandra gasped in such a simpering voice, Craig couldn't help but roll his eyes. The doctor stepped forwards and took the unmoving spider out of Jabe's hand; begin to do something to it with the sonic screwdriver.

'Summon the Steward' the Moxx of Balhoon ordered.

'I'm afraid the Steward is dead' Jabe said, causing there to be a loud collective gasp of shock.

'Who killed him?' the Moxx of Balhoon asked.

'This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe! He invited us! Talk to the face! Talk to the face!' Cassandra spat. Craig had had just about enough of her to last a lifetime, first she upset Rose, and now she's accusing somebody he apparently would become good friends with, and with that thought, he stepped forwards himself.

'Oi, leave him alone, just because he's holding the event doesn't mean that he's responsible for this, it's not like you have even evidence against him' he cried out, though making a good point.

'Easy way of finding out though, someone brought their little pet on board' the doctor backed him up, showing the spider to the room before setting it down on the floor.

'Let's send him back to Master', and that's exactly what it did. It became scuttling around the room, halting in front of Cassandra for a few seconds, seemingly looking straight at her whilst she looked slightly shifty, before it change direction completely, and came to a stop at the cloaked feet of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.

'The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!' Cassandra spat.

'That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it...' the doctor trailed off, as one of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme tried to strike him, but he caught the arm and ripped it off.

'What it is with you and ripping people's arms off' Craig asked quietly, but the doctor chose to ignore him for the time being.

'A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are. An idea' he said, before he ripped a wire from the arm, and all of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme crumpled into a bundle of black cloaks, causing everyone to gasp, them all missing Cassandra roll her eyes.

'Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo! Go home!' he said, gently nudging his foot against the spider, which ambled back over to Cassandra.

'I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed' she sneered coldly, her statement causing him to raise an eyebrow.

'And sadly, with that face, I bet she's right' Craig sighed a laugh, whilst the Doctor pretended to look hurt at him agreeing with her, but Craig could tell he wanted to laugh.

'At arms!' Cassandra ordered, and both her bodyguard surgeons lifted their nozzles, the canisters rattling slightly at the sudden movement, pointing them at Craig and the Doctor's chests.

'What are you going to do, moisturize us? The doctor asked in an almost gay guy tone.

'Thanks sweety, but if you use it to look like that, I'd rather not' Craig chuckled.

'Oh shut up, it's acid. Oh, too late anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts; tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just as pretty face' she smirked at them all.

'You're not even that' Craig added, causing her to look outraged.

'Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?' the doctor pointed out.

'I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous' she sighed, like she had lost out on a great personal gain.

'Five billion years and it still comes down to money' the doctor said bitterly.

'That, and changing you're appearance via surgery' Craig added in disgust, cosmetic surgery had been something that had always revolted him since his teenage years.

'Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune. I am The Last Human, Doctor. Me. Not _that_ freaky little kid of yours' she glared at Craig.

'Arrest her!' the Moxx of Balhoon cried out.

'Oh, shut it, pixie. I've still got my final option' Cassandra smiled as the sound of the computer reminded them all of what was to come.

'Earth Death in 3 minutes'

'And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? "Burn, baby, burn."' She laughed.

'Then you'll burn with us' Jabe said, her tone harsh with anger.

'Oh, I'm so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but... I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders… activate' Cassandra smirked, as the spider on the floor exploded into small chucks of metal and bolts, and judging by the shuddering of the entire platform, all the others had exploded too.

'The Force field's gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband' she giggled

'Oh, shame on me. Buh-bye, darlings! Buh-bye, my darlings...' she laughed as she, and the surgeons, all glowed a pale blue colour, and they disappeared, clearly having teleported away to safety.

'Heat levels rising' the computer warned them all, and the panicked voices of the guests began to climb in volume.

'Reset the computer!' the Moxx of Balhoon cried out at them.

'Only the Steward would know how' Jabe pointed out.

'No. We can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch. Craig, Jabe, come on' the doctor said, ushering them out of the room. He was about to follow them, before he turned his head back over his shoulder.

'You lot, just chill!' he said, in a sort of mockingly reassuring voice.

**...**

**So, there it is, chapter 7! Next is the final part of episode 2, and like I said it will have a little alternate ending thanks to a certain blonde man of mine : ) As always, please review as I like reading them to get an idea of what people want from this story and how I can make it better!**


	8. The End of the World, Heat Levels Rising

**Yay! Here's the last part of The End of the World : ) This is one of my favourite chapters so far because it gives you an idea of how easily Craig's affect can have in the doctor's adventures! As of this moment I still don't own Doctor Who, but I am the proud owner of Craig Tyler! Read on, but be careful, cause the heat levels are rising...**

**...**

**The End of the World – Heat Levels Rising**

The three of them ran as fast as they could, the Doctor leading them, and within second the three had reached the Ventilation Chamber.

'Heat levels, critical. Heat levels, critical' the computer warned them.

'Thanks, I could have got that far on my own' Craig snapped at the noise.

'Oh and it gets better. Guess where the switch is' the doctor groaned, pointing behind the three rotating fans. On the other side, a large red level was clamped upright.

'Heat levels, rising. Heat levels, rising'

The Doctor rushed over to the side wall, pulling down the lever there, which caused the fans to turn much slower, slow enough for him to walked through.

'External temperature, 5 thousand degrees' the computer told them. Beginning to get very worried, the doctor went to dart forward through the fans, but the instant he let go of the lever, the fans picked up speed again, making it impossible for him to pass without getting torn to shreds.

Craig noticed the look of hopelessness on his face as the doctor watched the fans, and wanting that look gone as soon as possible, moved over to the lever and managed to force it back down. It was very heavy for him, and he was using all his weight just to keep the damn thing down!

As the fans slowed again, the Doctor span around on the spot, grinning when he saw Craig, before noticing Jabe was begin to shine with us kind of plant equivalent to sweat.

'Jabe, get out of here, the heat with vent through here' he told her kindly. She looked hesitant; she really wanted to help them, to not just leave them both down here.

'Jabe, we'll take care of this, if you wanna help, go back and get everybody away from the glass, into the corridors and away from for the light' Craig told her, and realising he was right, she gave a brief nod, and rushed out of the chamber. Craig turned back to the Doctor, a grin on his flushed face.

'And as for you, stop wasting time, Time Lord' he smiled cheekily, and grinning, the Doctor hurried forwards, easily making it through the first fan.

'Seriously Doctor, you need to hurry, the sun's gonna explode any second' he called out, seeing the doctor slightly hesitant at the second fan.

'Hey, it's harder than it looks you know Tyler' he called back, slightly annoyed, after all, they could swap if he wanted!

'Come on Doctor, you can do it' he said encouragingly, and taking in his words, the doctor ran through the second fan, and then the third.

Darting to the lever, he dragging it down.

'Rise Shields' he shouted.

'Shields Restoring, Shields Restoring' the computer stated, before its message changed once more, coinciding with the Doctor re-joining Craig on the other side of the bridge.

'Planet explodes in Ten Seconds' it told them. Craig really didn't want to see it, but he didn't want to miss it either, it was his whole world, he needed to see it go! And so taking the doctor's hand, they ran as fast as they could, hearing the seconds counting down. They had just got into one of the gallery rooms and neared the window, as the Sun turned an even deeper red and grow larger and larger, swelling until it burst outward, and the entire planet got caught in its light, before shattering into chucks of rock.

'And there it is, history' the doctor sighed.

'Not exact the most dignified way to go, we only just made it in time to see it go' Craig pointed out sadly.

'You alright' the doctor leaned down to look at his face properly, being met with nothing but misery in the young man's face.

'Yeah, it's just, all the time, all those people, and the only human to see it go was an insignificant guy from an old estate' he stated softly, whilst the doctor frowned.

'What makes you think you're insignificant, you were very significant today, without you being here, everyone on this platform would have died' the doctor pointed out.

'Yeah, but Jabe could have done what I did, Raffalo, or Rose' Craig countered with.

'But they didn't, it was you' he said, slinging his arm around Craig's shoulder and giving it an encouraging squeeze.

'Yeah, you're right, I'm just sad to see my world go' he admitted.

'I know that feeling, when I said I was the last of the time lords, I meant that I'm the last because I ended the time war, destroying my own people' the doctor said in self-disgust.

'And that's why we were here, so that somebody else could understand the pain of seeing their world die, and not being able to save it' Craig said as he realised, and with the Doctor gave a sad nod, the blonde wrapped his arms around him, trying to give him the little bit of small comfort he had to offer.

'Come on, time to clear some things up' the doctor said, taking his hand, leading him back towards the Manchester Suite.

…

Rose shakily walked back into the function room as the aliens gathered in there. As far as she could see, the only people missing were Cassandra, the Doctor and Craig, and trying to keep her sickening thoughts out of mind, she observed the goings on around her, whilst reflecting on what had just happened to her.

The doctor may have been able to stop the filter from dropping, but as she stood pacing about, very annoyed to boot, the window had begun to crack, and slithers of burning light burst into the gallery. Eventually there were so many she was forced into a sitting position, the room burning around her, as she panted for air. Her real terror was when the countdown had started, but then miraculously the window began to repair itself, and the fires dies down. She had been able to force the heavily damaged door open, and had returned into the main suite.

She stood, watching as Raffalo did a staff count, cheering slightly that everybody was accounted for. She watched Jabe talking with Lute and Coffa, the Max of Balhoon conversing with the Face of Boe. She saw Mr and Mrs Pakoo hug each other, breaking down in each other's comfort, the Hop Pyleen brothers standing side by side, smiling shakily at each other as they realised they had made it. She saw Cal 'Spark Plug' and his associate talking in troubled voices about the event and its ramifications, and the Ambassadors from the City State of Binding Light praying their thanks to their Gods for sparing them.

She smiled slightly as Craig and the Doctor came into the room, revealing to her that in fact everybody had more or less survived.

'You all right?' she asked the pair of them as the approached her, Jabe running over to join them.

'Thank God, you did it' she breathed.

'Yep, we did it and everyone's fine. But I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one, teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be hidden nearby' he said looking around. Craig looked around too, before his eyes landed on the Ostrich Egg, and striding over to it, he smashed it open, a small beeping silver and black device fell into his.

'This it?' he asked the doctor, who took it from him and turned it over in his hands.

'Craig Tyler you are fantastic' he grinned.

'Yeah well, we had one of them in our classroom at school, and you just smashed the last one in existence' Rose waved a mockingly reproachful finger at her brother, who merely laughed.

'Idea number three, if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed' the doctor continued, twisting a part of the feed around. Suddenly, in another beam of light, Cassandra appeared before them, and she was clearly gloating about her earlier actions.

'Ah, you should have seen their little alien faces' she sneered, her face falling as she noticed her new surroundings. 'Oh…'

'The Last Human' the doctor spat bitterly.

'So you passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join the err... the human club' Cassandra stuttered quite flustered.

'The Steward died, Cassandra. You murdered him. You tried to murder everyone in this room' the Doctor said coldly.

'That depends on your definition of 'people'. And that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court then, Doctor! And watch me smile, and cry, and flutter...' she was cut off.

'And creak?' Jabe asked wonderingly.

'And what?' Cassandra asked confused.

'Creak! You're creaking' the Doctor said happily, watching as Cassandra's skin began tightening. Her eyes were becoming bloodshot and she was getting whiter and whiter, the skin that formed her was beginning to shrink.

'What? Ah! Ah! I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens! Moisturize me! Moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!' she cried out in panic, whilst she became covered in red blotches.

'You raised the temperature' the Doctor reminded her.

'Have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, Doctor! Help me, please I'll do anything' she begged, sounding terrified and pitiful.

'Help her' Rose said quietly.

'Can't you do something for her' Craig added in a whisper.

'Everything has its time and everything dies' the doctor cut them off, his voice steely cold.

'I'm... too... young!' Cassandra screamed, before she appeared to explode, bits of her splattering out across the floor. The Doctor's expression was completely cold and not remotely fazed as he began walking out of the room.

…

It was roughly half an hour later, and almost everybody had left Platform One by now. Raffalo had contacted the Corporation and informed them of what had taken place, and they had ordered it be closed down for maintenance. One by one the shuttles had left, until only The Doctor, Rose, Craig, Jabe, and her companions remained. Lute and Coffa were hanging back at the back of the gallery, whilst the other's all looked out onto the Earth.

'The end of the world, it's gone' Rose sighed, and Craig knew she was feeling the same pain he had earlier. He gently took her hand and like the doctor had done for him, squeeze it in comfort.

'I'm sorry for the lose you suffer' Jabe said, sounding consoling.

'Thanks' Craig whispered.

'Well, even though we were too busy saving ourselves to see it gone respectfully, at least somebody was looking in its final moment' Rose said, deciding that was better than no one at all.

'And what about you now Jabe' the Doctor asked her.

'Oh, back to the forest for me, my family is forever growing, me and my brothers are needed' she smiled, nodding at said brothers.

'Well, I really hope you accomplish everything you want too' Rose smiled at her.

'And I wish you all the best in your travels also' Jabe replied, and with one last nod at them, she turned and marched out the room, Lute and Coffa following.

'So what now then?' Craig asked, turning back to face the remnants of his planet.

'Come with me' the doctor simply said, taking their hands and leading them back to the Tardis.

…

Once it had landed, the doctor took the silent humans outside, where they found themselves to be in a packed street of London, people busy talking with friends, carrying shopping bags, driving around. Everyday stuff, and it was all back before their eyes. It was like the last few hours hadn't happened.

'You think it'll last forever. People, and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day, it's all gone. Even the sky' as the doctor said this; they all looked up at said sky, deep in thought.

'It's because Gallifrey's gone that I'm left travelling on my own, there's nobody else' he said mournfully.

'There's us' Rose smiled at him.

'And you never know, maybe we'll pick somebody else up on the way' Craig added, thinking about what the Face of Boe had said.

'You've seen how dangerous it is. Do you want to go home?' the doctor suddenly asked them.

'I don't know. I want...' Rose trailed off, sniffing the air. 'Oh! Can you smell chips?'

'Yeah. Yeah!' the doctor laughed.

'I want chips' she her reply.

'Me too' he grinned.

'And me' Craig added with a light laugh.

'Right then, before we all get back in that box, chips it is, and you can pay' Rose laughed at the doctor, who in turn looked fairly smug back at her.

'No money' he laughed.

'God, what sort of lousy date are you Doctor. Come on then, tightwads, chips are on me' Craig said, digging through his back pocket, finding his wallet. The pair smiled at him in delight.

'We've only got five billion years before the shops close...' Rose joked, and laughing, the three of them set off, Rose nuzzling her head into the Doctor's shoulder.

…

'Right then, the two of you will need rooms' the doctor said as he led Rose and Craig back into the Tardis control room, having finished their chips and walking back. He took them into a corridor, which to their amazement didn't seem to end, it simply kept twisting around, this place must be massive!

'Rose you can have this one' he said, pointing to a faded red door.

'And you can have this one' he added, pointing to a bright turquois door on the other side of the corridor, a few doors down.

'Thanks' they smiled simultaneously.

'Kitchen's that door down there, and there's a bathroom in both rooms. They're a bit empty right now, but the Tardis can scan you and refurbish them for your specific tastes' he explained.

'Really, that's amazing' Rose laughed, to which the Tardis hummed, almost thanking her.

'She says Thanks' the doctor smiled.

'Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for bed, night' Rose said, and yawing through a smile, she slipped inside her new room and closed the door behind her.

'You look ready for bed too' the doctor noted, looking at Craig's slightly weary eyes.

'Yeah I am, but I wanna talk to you about something' Craig stated. Since they had left Platform One he had been internally debating with himself whether to approach the Doctor with this, or to keep it a secret, but in the end he had decided he couldn't stand to do that.

'Right then, let's get a cuppa and you can talk away' the doctor said, leading him into the kitchen. It was a small room, lined with counters, a sink, oven, microwave, and fridge all in place. A four seated table of wood with matching chairs took up most of the room also.

'Coffee' the doctor asked as he began boiling a kettle.

'Please, milk and one sugar, thanks' he sighed, taking a seat, and moments later the doctor sat opposite him, two steaming coffees in between them.

'So, what's wrong with Craig Tyler' the doctor almost chuckled.

'Well, on Platform one, when Rose was talking to Cassandra and you left with Jabe, I talked with the Face of Boe' he started.

'Did he say anything interesting?' the doctor asked, not sure why Craig was telling him this.

'As a matter of fact he did' Craig smiled sarcastically, taking a gulp of his coffee before carrying on.

'He gave me the impression that sometime in my future, I'm going to meet he in his old form, that of a human, and that we would grow close to each other' he explained, and the doctor rose an eyebrow, he mouth curling into a smile.

'A match made in heaven, a blonde, and a giant head' he smirked.

'Shut up' Craig laughed.

'But they're something else, I can tell' the doctor noted.

'Yeah, he said that one day, I would become depressed and close to giving up hope. He mentioned something about trying to get back to you, that you would miss me' he sighed.

'That's… troubling' the doctor looked thoughtful.

'Yeah, but what I wanted to know was, could you do something, I mean you can travel through time, couldn't you do something to stop it' Craig asked, his voice close to a plea.

'Sorry, it doesn't work like that. You can't cross through your own timeline to a specific established event, that could cause a paradox' the doctor said sounding regrettable.

'Yeah, I guess, but it's not established yet is it, are people's timelines set in stone, were me and Rose always heading to meeting you' he suddenly asked.

'No, not all timelines are fixed, some points are, they must always stay how they are, but a lot of the time, people's lives can be changed. And I'm betting it was just really good luck on my part for meeting you two' he grinned as he downed his coffee.

'What I do know is that you need some sleep, you don't wanna be tired tomorrow' he noted as Craig finished his coffee.

'Yes Mother' Craig giggled, quickly washing up his mug and placing it on the drainer next to the sink.

'Cheeky! Night Craig' the doctor smiled.

'Goodnight Doctor' Craig said, before heading off the bed, his mind filled with worried thoughts about his future, though it was laced with excitement about what tomorrow would bring.

**...**

**And there's the final part to The End of the World! So this chapter sees the friendship and understanding of The Doctor and Craig beginning to grow, and Craig's presence changed the fate of Jabe, hooray : ) Next up is The Unquiet Dead, but first I want reviews : )**


	9. The Unquiet Dead, It's Christmas!

**Hello! So here is the first part of episode three, The Unquiet Dead! Kind of a spooky episode, with a good moral debate between the Doctor and Rose in it, but in my version, let's see who's side Craig picks. Hehe, I already know! As always I do not own Doctor Who, but I do own Craig Tyler! **

**...**

**The Unquiet Dead**

**The Unquiet Dead – It's Christmas!**

The following day, in the control room, mayhem was breaking out. The Doctor was clinging onto one side of the controls, Craig and Rose on the other side. He was supposed to be driving them somewhere new, but he had yet to tell them where.

'Hold that one down!' he shouted at them

'I'm HOLDING this one down!' Rose cried out.

'Well, hold them BOTH down!' he said exasperatedly.

Craig couldn't reach the button the doctor had indicated, so instead he used his leg to press it down, keeping his hand on a different button.

'This is never gonna work!' he laughed.

'Oi! I promised you a time machine and that's what you're getting. Now, you've seen the future - let's have a look at the past. 1860. how does 1860 sound?' the doctor grinned.

'What happened in 1860?' Rose asked.

'I don't know' the doctor simply grinned.

'Then let's find out' Craig smiled.

'Hold on, here we go!' the doctor tightened his grip as the Tardis was flung through the vortex. With a harsh bump, they fell to the floor in a laughing frenzy, and were back on their feet in seconds.

'Blimey!' Rose laughed.

'You're telling me! Are you alright?' the doctor asked them.

'Yep, right as rain' Craig grinned.

'Yeah. I think so! Nothing broken... did we make it? Where are we?' Rose asked excitedly.

'I did it! Give the man a medal. Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860' he grinned proudly, looking at the information on the monitor.

'That's so weird… it's Christmas' she gasped as realization hit her.

The Doctor gestured towards the door, a soft smile lining his face.

'All yours' he stated quietly.

'But, it's like... think about it, though. Christmas. 1860. Happens once. Just once, and it's gone. It's finished. It'll never happen again. Except for you. You can go back and see days that are dead and gone and a hundred thousand sunsets ago... no wonder you never stay still...' she sighed.

'Not a bad life' the doctor agreed.

'Better with three' Craig chuckled.

They all grinned at each other for a few moments. Then Rose slapped him on the back before heading towards the door.

'Come on then!' she was practically buzzing with excitement.

'Oi, Oi, Oi! Where do you think you're going?!' the doctor demanded.

'I thought we were going to 1860, but if you'd rather go somewhere else, just say the words' Craig smirked at him, causing him to roll his eyes.

'If you two go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, especially you Barbarella!' he added, looking at Rose. 'There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, it's the fifth door on your left. Hurry up!' he ordered, grinning after them as they rushed off to get changed.

…

Having followed the doctor's directions, Rose and Craig found themselves in what must have been the best and most vast wardrobe in the entire universe. Splitting up into the men's and women's sections, they both began looking for clothing more appropriate to 1860.

Craig was pushing through brightly coloured suites, trying to find something that struck his fancy. Thinking but to his childhood, he vaguely remembered his school Victorian Day, and the types of clothing worn then. Grinning slightly at the memories, he eventually found something perfect. It was a fancy black suit jacket and matching trousers, with a white shirt and blue waist coat, with silver thread sewn into intricate patterns of leaves. The long flowing turquois bow tie hung unravelled from the hanger, and beneath it, a pair of black dress shoes and a long cane stood, its silvery handle shaped like a growling wolf head.

Smiling, he quickly took his own cloths off and pulled it on, feeling the soft material against his flesh, before picking up the cane. He used a brush to sweep his fringe high across his forehead and a pair of curlers to curl the back of hair in sweeping loose curls. Satisfied that he would fit into this time era, he hurried back to the control room. When he arrived, he found the doctor beneath the grated floor, seemingly doing so kind of repair to the controls. With a small cough, he announced himself as being ready.

'Wow, dressed to impress there Mr Tyler' he smirked and Craig smiled softly.

'And what about you, aren't you gonna change' he asked.

'I changed my jumper' the said indignantly, plucking at his now black jumper. Craig rolled his eyes, before his mouth nearly dropped open as Rose walked in. Her hair was elegantly piled upon her hair, and she was wearing a flowing red dress which was simply stunning, and had applied complimenting makeup to her face. Around her shoulders and chest was a long black shawl, and she too was carrying a cane, her having a golden hummingbird head piece.

'Blimey' the doctor breathed.

'Don't you dare laugh, either of you' she giggled.

'You look beautiful' he compliments, causing her expression to become a shy smile.

'Yeah, you look amazing sis, it's lucky I have this to keep all the guys away from you' Craig grinned, holding up his cane.

'You're just jealous that at this point in time, no guy will be chasing you' she laughed as he pouted, the doctor laughing at their antics.

'Aren't you gonna change doctor' she asked as he climbed up to their level.

'Oh he's changed his jumper' Craig exclaimed sarcastically.

'Hey, this Bad Boy look is timeless' the doctor was the one now pouting, and rolling their eyes at him, Rose and Craig headed for the door, Rose smiling when Craig let her out first. She could feel a blanket of fresh snow beneath for feet, and looking around, she saw them to be in a Victorian street, snowing gently falling from above them, as people walked around in their dark Victorian clothing and horses were drawing carriages through the roads. She let out a breath of astonishment as they all stepped out into the world of the past.

'Ready for this?' the doctor asked them.

Rose smiled as he offered her his arm, laughing as Craig took it instead for a moment, before letting go with a sly grin. She entwined her arm around his, and the three of the set of, looking for their next adventure.

'Here we go. History!' the doctor said cheerfully.

…

They had wandered all the way down the street and around the corner, where the doctor stopped to buy a newspaper. Funny how he had no current earth money but money to the past. He quickly unfolded it and scanned it, his face falling slightly as they walked on.

'I got the flight a bit wrong' he admitted

'HA! I told you it wouldn't work' Craig grinned triumphantly.

'I don't care' Rose was so entranced by the beauty of the Victorian era that she couldn't help but beam.

'It's not 1860, it's 1869' the doctor explained.

'I don't care!' was she grinning response.

'And it's not Naples' he admitted.

'I don't care' she smiled.

'Well I do, so where are we?' Craig asked.

'It's Cardiff' he said almost guiltily.

'Right...' Rose said distastefully as she paused.

'Yay, I love Cardiff' Craig said cheerfully, and the doctor raised an eyebrow.

'Really Craig? Cardiff' he asked unbelievingly.

'Hey, my ex was Welsh and he showed my around, even taught me a little bit of the language' Craig grinned.

'That's why he's his ex' Rose put in with a smirk, and the doctor muffled a laugh. Craig was about to retort when a scream rang out, for a posh looking theatre type of building, advert posters on either side of the doors, and grand steps leading up to the lighten wooden doors.

'That's more like it!' the doctor grinned, tossing the newspaper over his shoulder and running in up the stairs and through the doors, Craig and swiftly following.

They burst into a panic stricken room. Row after row of seats contained people screaming in terror. A man stood on stage, he too dressed rather elegantly, in a suit and waistcoat similar to Craig's, with his greying curly hair, moustache and beard, and was trying, and failing, to restore order. An elderly woman in a black and gold dress and headscarf stood, her skin pale, a ghostly blue light surrounding her face. Over head, a shapeless cloud of the same blue light was swooping around the higher seats, wailing loudly.

'Fantastic' the doctor gasped as they saw it.

'My god, Phantom of the Opera!' Craig cried out, the reference rather fitting well. As the words left his mouth, the light around the woman faded, and she slumped back in her seat, unmoving. The doctor quickly jumped up on stage and bounded up to the man.

'Did you see where it came from?' he quickly asked.

'Ah. The wag reveals himself, does he? I trust you're satisfied, sir!' the man roared with fury, believing the doctor to have somehow have caused this debacle to his performance. The doctor looked slightly taken aback, but had no time to respond as Craig got onto the stage beside him, whilst Rose began shouting.

'Oi! Leave her alone!' she shouted, and turning, Craig and the Doctor saw a man in a long black travelling coat, nearly bald but with long sideburns, and a young pretty woman with black hair pile atop her head, wearing a servant girl uniform, a white cap, and a boat coat over her uniform. They had taken a hold of the elderly woman, and were dragging her away. Oddly, the woman wasn't protesting or struggling, but not helping either.

'Doctor, I'll get 'em!' she cried, darting off towards them, struggling in the crowds of fleeing people.

'Be careful!' he shouted back, before turning back to the man.

'Did it say anything? Could it speak? I'm The Doctor, this is Craig, by the way' he hurriedly introduced them.

'Doctor? You look more like a navy' the man commented, and Craig snorted in amusement. Indignantly, the doctor looked between them.

'What's WRONG with this jumper?' he cried, plucking at it.

'Told you, you should've changed' Craig grinned.

They watched the blue ghost suddenly dive into a gas burning lamp, and completely disappear.

'Gas! It's made of gas!' the doctor realised, before turning to look down at Craig.

'Come on' the doctor said, grabbing his sleeve as they jumped off the stage, following after the direction Rose had gone in. the other man didn't look happy with them though, and quickly pursued them.

…

Back in the street, Rose hurried out, only to see that the woman was being bundled into the back of a carriage.

'What're you doing?!' she demanded as she finally caught up.

'Oh, it's such a tragedy, miss. Don't worry yourself, me and the master will deal with it' the girl said, her voice thick with a welsh accent. She was trying to bar Rose from seeing inside the hearse 'The fact is, this poor lady's been taken with the brain fever and we have to get her to the infirmary' she managed to get out before Rose pushed her aside. She gentle laid a hand on the old woman's forehead.

'She's cold... she's dead! My God, what did you do to her?' Rose cried out in shock. She failed to hearing the crunching of the snow behind her, failed to see a shadow over her until it was too late, and a hand suddenly clamped a sweetly smelling tissue over her mouth and nose. She tried to pry it away, but it was too strong, until she quickly fell limp. She was vaguely award of being laid down next to something cold, and could hear voices, hushed, but arguing over her, before she faded out completely.

…

As they exited the theatre, the doctor and Craig were surprized to see being bundled into the back of a hearse by the man and woman she had been chasing.

'Rose!' the doctor yelled.

'Oi! Let her go now!' Craig screeched.

They pair made after them, but before they could take a few steps, the hearse was being driven away, taking Rose god knows where. They went to run after it, but a sharp voice distracted them.

'You're not escaping me, sirs! What do you know about that hobgoblin, Hm?' he demanded 'Projection on glass, I suppose. Who put you up to it?' he asked as they completely ignored him, watching the hearse getting further away before snapping into action.

'Come On!' the doctor cried, spotting a hearse, grabbing Craig and running over to it.

'Oi you, follow that car…ridge, that hearse' Craig corrected as the doctor smirked at him. The doctor hopped inside, helping Craig up as well.

'I can't do that, sirs!' the driver protested.

'Why not?' the doctor asked confused. Suddenly the man appeared at the window.

'Why not?! I'll give you a very good reason why not! This is my coach!' he yelled.

'Well just get in it then' Craig snapped, pulling him inside before he could protest. The doctor almost looked ready to laugh hysterically at him, but chose to focus on rose for the moment, commanding the driver to move once more, and finally, they were off, following their kidnapped friend.

**...**

**Well... eventual chapter! Rose is kidnapped, the chase is on, and Craig is dressed to impressed apparently : ) So we've learnt a little more about Craig, and that his opinion of Cardiff is apparently different to that of the Doctor's and Rose's. It usually about this point that I'd ask for reviews, but since nobody seems to want to, I'm going to do something else. I have ideas for different parts of this story, but thanks to a really helpful review from Luize White I see that at the moment Craig is really kind of replacing Rose. So now I want reviews telling me how I can develop her character in relation to Craig's, so I am actually begging for reviews now, pretty please! And I also have the end of this story to figure out, so can anybody who reads this please go to my profile and vote to decide the fate of the Craig Tyler!**


	10. The Unquiet Dead, The Dead are Walking

**Hey readers! First I want to start this note by saying I am not amused, to quote the great queen victoria. I want votes! How exactly can I make an audience focused story when my audience refuses to vote, so please, get voting : ) In this chapter we see a little violent outburst from Craig, but it is justified considering the circumstances, plus we find out a little more about his interests, so It's a pretty good chapter for character building. I DO own this character, but I don't own Doctor Who!**

**...**

**The Unquiet Dead**

**The Unquiet Dead – The Dead Are Walking**

Ploughing through the snowy streets of London, the doctor and Craig both worn determined expressions on their faces, since they were very determined to get Rose back, whilst the other man looked extremely grumpy and ticked off.

'Everything in order, Mr. Dickens?' the driver called back to them

'No! It is not!' the man, or rather Mr Dickens, shouted back angrily.

'What did he say?' the doctor asked, very curiously.

'Let me say this first. I'm not without a sense of humour…' he tried to started, but was cut off.

'Dickens?' the doctor pressed.

'Yes' was the short tempered reply.

'Charles Dickens?' he continued.

'Yes' Charles said, still sounding disgruntled.

'THE Charles Dickens?' Craig asked disbelievingly, his eyes widening.

'Shall I remove the gentlemen, sir?' the driver asked.

'No way I can't believe it' Craig grinned happily.

'Charles Dickens! You're brilliant, you are! Completely 100% brilliant! I've read 'em all! Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and what's the other one, the one with the ghost?' the doctor said beaming.

'A Christmas Carol?' Charles asked, seemingly warming up to them now.

'No, no, no, the one with the trains...' the doctor said, thinking quickly.

'The Signal Man, oh that one's fantastic, terrifying!' Craig smiled happily, and Charles looked extremely pleased.

'The best short story ever written! You're a genius!' the doctor added excitedly.

'You want me to get rid of them, sir?' the driver asked again.

'Er, no, I think they can stay' he smiled, clearly enjoying their flattery.

'Honestly, Charles… can I call you Charles? I'm such a big fan' the doctor said sincerely.

'...what? A what?' Charles asked bewilderedly.

'Fan! Number One Fan, that's me' the doctor beamed.

'Wrong, that's me! I loved those books when I was little, especially a Christmas Carol, and Charles Dickens is the tippy top of my best authors list' Craig grinned as the doctor pouted slightly at not being the number one fan.

' you are fans? In what way do either of you resemble a means of keeping oneself cool?' Charles asked confused.

'No, it means 'Fanatic', devoted to. Mind you, I've gotta say, that American bit in Martin Chuzzlewit, what was that about?! Was that just padding or what? I mean, it's rubbish, that bit' the doctor said critically.

'I thought you said you were my fan' Charles said, slightly disgruntled again.

'Ah, well, if you can't take criticism…' the doctor sighed.

'What about Oliver Twist though, another classic' Craig smiled as he remembered one of his favourite childhood stories.

'Go on, do the death of Little Nell, it cracks me up. No, sorry, come on, faster!' the doctor shouted the last part at the driver, having momentarily let Rose slip his mind for a few seconds, but he really needed to focus. The driver urged the horses on.

'Who exactly IS in that hearse?' Charles asked.

'My friend. She's only nineteen, and it's my fault. She's in my care, and now she's in danger' the doctor said.

'Her name's Rose, she my sister' Craig added, his tone extremely worried about his sister.

'Why are we wasting time talking about dry old books? This is much more important. Driver! Be swift! The chase is on!' Charles ordered quickly.

'Yes, sir!' the driver replied, making the horses go even fastest.

'Thatta boy, Charlie!' the doctor beamed delightedly.

'Nobody calls me Charlie' Charles pointed out, irritated at the nickname.

'The ladies do' the doctor grinned.

'How do you know that?' Charles asked astonished.

'I told you… I'm your Number One' the doctor smirked at Craig.

'No fair! I am! Just because you're a perv who knows things like that, I love him for his books, and that make me the number one fan!' Craig wailed mockingly, grinning at them both though.

…

Rose groaned as she placed a hand to her forehead, trying to make sense of what had happened to her. She had been with the doctor and Craig, she remembered chasing after someone, felt the cold of a dead woman, before her mind went blank. Drugged, that was the only explanation she could think of, somebody had blood drugged her. A loud groaning noise alerted her to danger, and sharply turning her head, she took in the room around her. She was in a parlour of some kind, a dark yet well-furnished room, with gas lambs hanging on the walls, blooming lilies decorating the room, and highly polished tables, some holding... coffins? Oh god, she was in a funeral parlour, and across the room, a young man, with sweeping brown hair, wearing a black suit, pale and icy blue eyed, was groaning and climbing out of one of the coffins stiffly.

'Are you all right? You're kidding me, yeah? You're just kidding' she asked, trying to reassure herself. He was slowly beginning to stagger towards her.

'You are, you're kidding me, aren't ya?' she asked, almost desperately.

'Okay, not kidding' she gasped as he just continued moving towards her, groaning and moaning horrifically. She bolted to the wooden door and struggled against it. She tugged and pulled but to no avail, she was locked in!

The elderly woman she had been trying to rescue before she had gotten into this mess suddenly sat up out of another coffin, Rose gasped as she too began walking towards her, her movements slow and stiff, just like the man's. then it clicked in her mind; Zombies! They were Zombies!

She quickly grabbed one of the vases of lilies and threw it at the man, causing him to stumble slightly but was otherwise ineffective.

'Let me out! Open the door!' she screamed fearfully.

…

The Doctor, Craig, and Charles had finally spotted the stopped hearse outside a grande white building. W large wooden sign hanging on the second floor informed them that this was the undertakes, ran by a man called Sneed. Craig shivered at the thought of Rose being held in a creepy old undertakers. Charles sharply knocked on the door and the young woman Rose had been after opened it.

'I'm sorry, sir, we're closed' she said politely, but Charles was having none of it.

'Nonsense! Since when did an undertaker keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule. I demand to see your master' he ordered in a harsh tone.

'He's not in, sir' she said, trying to close the door on them, but Charles forcefully kept it open.

'Don't lie to me, child!' he roared angrily.

'I'm awfully sorry, Mr Dickens, but the mater's indisposed' she stated, her tone still highly polite, as suddenly a gas lamp behind her flared up, a detailed the Doctor immediately noticed.

'Having trouble with your gas?' he asked calmly, as a sort of wailing haunted noise filled the manor and the air. It was extremely unnerving in Craig's opinion.

'What the Shakespeare is going on?' Charles muttered in confusion, whilst the Doctor quickly forced his way in and pressed his ear to the wall.

'You're not allowed inside, sir!' the girl said, slight panic lining her voice.

'There's something inside the walls' the doctor stated, clearly ignoring her.

'What, like that blue ghosty thing?' Craig asked as he casually walked over to the doctor's side, listening against the wall too. It did indeed sound as though the wailing noise was coming from within them.

'Let me out! Open the door!' a voice suddenly screamed, a very familiar voice, Rose. The girl closed her eyes in dismay at them having heard Rose with their own ears, there was no way she would get them out now.

'That's her, ROSE!' Craig yelled, running further into the house in the direction of his sister's screaming. The elderly man charged at him, yelling at him to leave his house, but Craig just pushed past him, ignoring him completely. He wanted to know his sister was save, and he wanted that reassurance now! The doctor and Charles rushed after him, the girl following with the man coming up the rear.

Drawing up to the door, Craig hold Rose's screams get strangely muffled, so thinking fast, he kicked the door wide open, revealing Rose being held back a corpse trying to strangle her. The doctor quickly took in the sight before pulling her from the man's grip, taking her by his side.

'I think this is MY dance' he told the dead man, whilst Craig quickly embraced his younger sister, whilst hurriedly looking her over to check for any injuries, relieved to find none.

'It's a prank? It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence' Charles said disbelievingly, and Craig had to admit, even after all he had seen, he too was having trouble taking in the sight before him.

'No, we're not. The dead are walking' the doctor said, looking oddly excited. He grinned down at Rose who was panting slightly.

'Hi' he said cheerfully.

'Hi! Who's your friend?' she asked, looking at Charles.

'Charles Dickens' Craig answered, looking at the zombies still in shock.

'Oh. Okay' Rose said, the sentence bearing fazing her.

'My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?' the doctor asked the corpses.

'We're failing. Open the rift, we're dying. Trapped in this form, cannot sustain, help us' the man said in an eerie voice, a high pitched voice mixed with a deeper one, most likely that of himself when he was alive. At that moment, both he and the elderly woman raised the heads to the ceiling, clouds of blue gas leaving their bodies with another loud wail, the corpses falling to the floor.

…

The elderly man, who revealed himself to be the Mr Sneed who own the manor, had reluctantly led them all up to his charmingly cosy living room, whilst the girl, who was called Gwyneth, was pouring them all some tea. Rose was no happy, and decided to make this more than clear by yelling at Mr Sneed, who looked relatively ashamed and even scared of her as she paced about in front of him, whilst he sat in his chair. Craig stood near Charles not far from her, whilst the doctor stood near the fireplace. Gwyneth was busy near a table, fixing up their beverages.

'First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man' Rose ranted.

'HE WHAT?!' Craig roared, and before Mr Sneed could react, Craig had punched him in the face, leaving a massive red mark on his cheek and a spurt of blood pouring from his nose.

'I'll not be treated like this!' Mr Sneed protested, whilst Craig looked at him murderously, and the doctor grinned widely, whilst Gwyneth hurried forwards with a handkerchief, giving it to Sneed to stop the bleeding.

'SHUT UP, HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY SISTER!' Craig roared, before hurrying to his sister's side.

'Where did he… do that' Craig asked her softly.

'Honestly, don't worry I'm fine, he didn't hurt me' she said in a hushed voice, in an attempt to calm her protective brother down. It was really sweet of him to care so much for her and she was really pleased to have him so love towards her, but she was fine! He was over reacting, but apparently, he disagreed.

'Not what I asked, now what did he do to you?' he asked again, and leaning in, she whispered exactly where she had felt his hands on her body. She watched tensely as Craig's face seemed to literally redden with fury before her eyes, so as he went to charge at Sneed again, she placed a soothing hand on his arm, and with a soft looking in his eyes, he nodded and stood away from the old perv, and gestured for Rose to finish her rant, her anger rapidly returning.

'And then you stuck me in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off! And leave me to die! So come on, talk!' she finished loudly.

'It's not my fault, it's this house! It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back. And then the stiffs…' Mr Sneed started, before noticing Charles's mildly offended expression.

'...the er, dear departed started getting restless' he quickly amended.

'Tommyrot' Charles stated softly.

'You witnessed it! Can't keep the beggars down, sir! They walk. And it's the queerest thing that they hang on to scraps of their lives' he countered. At this moment, Gwyneth handed the Doctor his cup of tea.

'Two sugars, sir, just how you like it' she smiled sweetly at him before going back to her job, whilst the Doctor looked at her curiously. He hadn't told her that he like two sugars in his tea, how on earth could she have known?

'One old fella who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service! Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir! Just as she planned' Mr Sneed continued explaining.

'Morbid fancy' Charles stated, unwilling to believe it.

'Oh, Charles, you were there' the doctor sighed.

'I saw nothing but an illusion' Charles protested.

'If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up' the doctor said swiftly, causing Charles to looked completely stunned by his rudeness.

'What about the gas?' Craig piped up, glaring daggers at the elderly man before him.

'That's new, sir, never seen anything like that' Mr Sneed answered hastily. Now that he had seen what Craig was capable of and just how angry he was, he wanted to remain on his good side, even if that seemed highly impossible.

'Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through' the doctor mused aloud.

'What's the rift?' Rose asked him.

'A weak point in time and space. The connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time' the doctor explained, dumbing it down admittedly.

'That's how I got the house so cheap' Mr Sneed exclaimed with revelation. Nobody noticed at that moment as Charles sneaked out of the room. Well, nobody except the Doctor.

'Stories going back generations. Echoes in the dark. Queer songs in the air and this feeling like a... shadow. Passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine' Mr Sneed admitted.

…

Charles had gone back into the room where Rose was locked up and took the lid off the man's coffin, since they had respectfully place him back inside of it. Mr Sneed had revealed his identity as Mr Redpath, and he was lying peacefully, his arms crossed across his chest. Charles waved his hands in front of his face, shook him a bit, and then proceeded to fumble around underneath the coffin, all the time oblivious to the Doctor watching him with his arms folded in the doorway.

'Checking for strings?' he spoke up, and if he startled the great writer Charles didn't show it.

'Wires, perhaps? There must be some mechanism behind this fraud!' Charles said persistently. The Doctor unfolded his arms and walked over to him.

'Oh, come on, Charles. All right. I shouldn't have told you to shut up' he said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

'I'm sorry. But you've got one of the best minds in the world. You saw those gas creatures' he said softly.

'I cannot accept that' Charles said stubbornly.

'And what does the human body do when it decomposes? It breaks down and produces gas. Perfect home for these gas things, they can slip inside and use it as a vehicle. Just like your driver and his coach' the doctor tried to explain.

'Stop it! Can it be that I have the world entirely wrong?' Charles cried out.

'Not wrong. There's just more to learn' the doctor said softly, reassuringly.

'I've always railed against the fantasies. Oh, I loved an illusion as much as the next man, revelled in them, that's what they were. Illusions! The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices. Great social causes. I hoped that I was a force for good. Now you tell me that the real world is a realm of spectres and jack o' lanterns. In which case, have I wasted my brief span here, Doctor? Has it all been for nothing?' he ranted; fear that he may have indeed wasted his life clear in his tone.

**...**

**And there we go! So Craig is showing his protective nature of Rose, a bit more so then normal. In all honesty that's my fault. I've kind of been focusing on the relationship between the doctor and Craig, and didn't really spare much thought for Rose and Craig's relationship. The way I see it is that they get along excellently, though have differences in opinions they were willing to argue over. Craig is also fiercely protective of his younger sister, and so to hear what Mr Sneed had done kind of drew out rare hate in Craig. Now, I have tried casually asking, then begging, so now I DEMAND reviews, hehehe! Only joking! Buy please, I really want to know what the people who actually read this think about Craig's character, what they would like to see in him, how Rose's character can grow, and just any critical comments you have to make, as long as they are constructive and will actually help. Also, please, please go onto my profile and have your say in what happens to Craig. It's really important because I like to leave little forewarnings in my chapters, and I need to know what YOU want as the ending in order to do that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll have the next one, which is called Séance up soon! Get reviewing and voting!**


	11. The Unquiet Dead, Séance

**And we've past the ten chapter marker! The Craig Tyler Poll is still open and needing more votes, so please get voting. Here we have a bit of an interesting chapter was foreshadowing, and Craig shows he is capable of choosing what is right even if he doesn't like it much. Doctor Who is not owned by me, but Craig Tyler is : )**

**...**

**The Unquiet Dead**

**The Unquiet Dead – Séance**

Whilst the doctor went to go talk with Charles, Rose and Craig had gone to help Gwyneth in the kitchen. She was busy lighting another lamp that she didn't see them slip in, or start doing the washing up for her.

'Please, Miss! You shouldn't be helping! It's not right! And sir, you shouldn't be taking part in household activities' Gwyneth cried out.

'Don't be silly, men have hands as well, we're all capable to helping out, just most men can't be bothered' Craig countered with a smile, ignoring her protests and carrying on with the washing up.

'Don't be daft. Sneed works you to death. How much do you get paid?' Rose asked curiously.

'Eight pound a year, miss' Gwyneth smiled.

'How much?' Rose asked shocked at the low amount.

'In these days that's quite a lot' Craig whispered so that Gwyneth couldn't hear him.

'I know. I would've been happy with six' she smiled, whilst Rose looked dumbfounded.

'So, did you go to school or what?' she decided to change the subject.

'Of course I did. What do you think I am? An urchin? I went every Sunday. Nice and proper' Gwyneth smiled proudly.

'What, once a week?' she pressed.

'We did sums and everything. To be honest, I hated every second' she admitted with a sly smile.

'Me too' Craig grinned, and all three of them laughed.

'Don't tell anyone, but one week, I didn't go and ran on the heath all on my own!' she admitted with a giggle, though her tone suggested that this was something quite outrageous.

'I did plenty of that. I used to go down the shops with my mate Shareen. And we used to go and look at boys!' Rose laughed, but Gwyneth stopped laughing immediately and looked slightly scandalized.

'Well, I don't know much about that, miss' she said softly, turning back to put away some of the washing up Rose had been drying.

'Come on, times haven't changed that much! I bet you've done the same' Rose teased.

'I don't think so, miss' Gwyneth said persistently.

'Gwyneth! You can tell me! Bet you've got your eye on someone' Rose wheedled.

'I suppose. There is one lad…' Gwyneth admitted, whilst Rose looked triumphantly chuffed with herself, and Craig gave a short laugh.

'The butcher's boy. He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him!' she gushed.

'Oh, I like a nice smile. Good smile, nice bum' Rose giggled, and again Gwyneth looked shocked.

Well, I have never heard the like!' she gasped slightly, before the three of the laughed again.

'Ask him out! Give him a cup of tea or something, that's a start' Craig said smiling.

'I swear it is the strangest thing, Sir and Miss. You've got all the clothes and the breeding but you talk like some sort of wild things!' she smiled at them.

'Maybe we are. Maybe that's a good thing. You need a bit more in your life than Mr Sneed' Rose shrugged.

'Ah, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in. Because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve' Gwyneth said, grateful to the man she saw as a master.

'Oh, I'm sorry' Craig said softly. After all, he and Rose knew what it was like to be missing a parent, let alone both of them.

'Thank you, Sir. But I'll be with them again, one day. Sitting with them in paradise. I should be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your dad's up there waiting for you too, Sir, Miss' she offered kindly.

'Maybe' Rose nodded slightly.

'Um, who told you he was dead?' Craig asked, he may have been thinking about it, but neither he nor Rose had said anything, so how could she have known?

'I don't know, must've been the Doctor' Gwyneth said lightly, realising she had said too much.

'Our father died years back' Rose stated.

'You've been thinking about him lately, more than ever' Gwyneth counter, the certainty in her voice was slightly surprizing.

'I s'pose so… how do you know all this?' Rose asked, slightly scared.

'Mr Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you Sir, and you miss' she smiled, and they all laughed once more.

'No, no servants where I'm from' Rose smiled.

'Well, unless you count me' Craig grinned at her teasingly, causing her to lightly hit his arm.

'And you've both come such a long way' Gwyneth stated, her voice changing slightly, like someone else was talking through her.

'What makes you think so?' Rose asked.

'You're from London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that. All those people rushing about. Half naked, for shame. And the noise… and the metal boxes racing past… and the birds in the sky… they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People flying. And you, you've both flown so far, further than anyone! You shall suffer such a terrible loss because of your own choice, made because of the love you feel' she whispered at Rose who looked slightly startled, before Gwyneth turned to Craig.

'And your pain shall be the greatest of all, seal away by the darkness for supposedly ever, but not quite so. Your resolve to beat it may be too much to bear as you start an endless journey to find him again, and more importantly yourself. Through the cracks in your life. But you, you've seen it as well… the darkness… the big bad wolf' she gasped, staggering backwards, clearly afraid. At this, Craig lifted his cane up to eye level, looking at the growling wolf handle before focusing back on what he just happened.

'I'm sorry Sir! I'm sorry Miss! Oh I'm so sorry!' she cried in horror'

'It's alright…' Rose said, unable to make any sense of what she had just said.

'I can't help it, ever since I was a little girl. My mum said I had the sight. She told me to hide it!' she whispered, her voice terrified.

'But it's getting stronger. More powerful, is that right?' the doctor's voice startled them, making them all jump, the tension in the room falling slightly. They turned to see him standing arms crossed in the doorway.

'All the time, sir. Every night. Voices in my head' Gwyneth admitted.

'You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key' he said, a bit too mysteriously in Craig's opinion. He wasn't sure what, but something stranger was about to happen, he was sure of it.

'I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table wrappers, all sorts' she said like this was quite a disgust secret to be kept.

'Well, that should help. You can show us what to do' the doctor said soft.

'What to do where, sir?' Gwyneth asked puzzled, but Craig immediately understood.

'We are not having a séance' Craig stated disbelievingly.

'Yes we are' the doctor grinned excitedly.

…

After heading back to the living room, the doctor had got Mr Sneed and Charles to sit at the large circular table. Gwyneth sat looking nervous, whilst the doctor, Rose, and Craig all took their places too. Everyone joined hands, except Charles who looked reluctant.

'This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists. Down in Mid Town. Come. We must all join hands' Gwyneth stated, looking at Charles.

'I can't take part in this' he argued, standing up to walk away.

'Humbug? Come on, open mind' the doctor said softly.

'This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I try to un-mask. Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing' he spat, making Gwyneth feel very small as she hung her head.

'Hey, I knew you're scared but there's no need to be mean' Craig shot back.

'Now, don't antagonize her. I love a happy medium' the doctor joked.

'I can't believe you just said that' Rose said through a laugh, whilst Craig was literally howling with it.

'Come on, we might need you' the doctor said to Charles, who sighed before retaking his seat.

'Good man. Now, Gwyneth. Reach out.' The doctor commanded.

'Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits?' Gwyneth called out, whilst Charles rolled his eyes. Even Craig would admit that this looked sort of ridiculous.

'Come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden' she said, raising her eyes to the ceiling. An eerie whisper started echoing through the room.

'Can you hear that?' Rose murmured.

'Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly' Charles said firmly.

'Look at her' Rose countered, indicating at Gwyneth, who was looking pale and almost in a trance like state.

'I feel them. I feel them!' she gasped, as wisps of the blue gas started to fill the room.

'What're they saying?' Craig asked, watching several puff of gas float through the air.

'They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now look deep. Allow them through.' The doctor ordered quickly.

'I can't!' Gwyneth gasped.

'Yes you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link' the doctor continued. Gwyneth looked almost pained, before suddenly, she lowered her head and opened her eyes.

'Yes' she whispered, as three gaseous figures appeared behind her, almost human in shape, like the creature from the theatre. Charles's mouth dropped open in shock.

'Great God. Sprits from the other side!' Mr Sneed whispered in awe.

'The other side of the universe' the doctor added.

'Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time, help us' Gwyneth and the creatures spoke in perfect synch.

'What do you want us to do?' the doctor asked them.

'The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge' the Gelth pleaded.

'What for?' Craig spoke up, trying to be helpful.

'We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction' the Gelth explained.

'Why, what happened?' the doctor asked in confusion.

'Once we had a physical form like you. But then the war came' the Gelth stated.

'War? What war?' Charles asked intrigued.

'The Time War' the Gelth said mournfully. Craig glanced at the doctor, seeing the almost broken look in his eyes. He gave his hand a comforting squeeze, which the doctor almost smiled at him for.

'The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state' the Gelth stated sadly.

'So that's why you need the corpses' the doctor realised.

'We want to stand tall. To feel the sunlight. To live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste, give them to us!' the Gelth begged.

'But we can't!' Rose argued.

'Why not?' the doctor asked almost angrily.

'It's not… I mean, it's not…' she faltered.

'Not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives' the doctor snapped, and the pair of them just stared at each other for a while.

'Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth!' they pleaded once more as they faded away, whilst Gwyneth slumped forwards onto the table. Rose jumped up and went to her, relieved to find her only unconscious and not worse. Craig helped her to lay Gwyneth on the sofa so she could rest, whilst Rose rushed to the kitchen, returning with a damp cloth which she began dabbing at Gwyneth's forehead with. She slowly began to fidget.

'It's alright. You just sleep' Rose soothed her.

'But my angels miss. They came, didn't they? They need me?' she asked in a whisper.

'They do need you, Gwyneth. You're they're only chance of survival' the doctor said from his position, leaning against the wall behind Rose. Craig was stood near to him.

'Now stop it, leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles' Rose snapped angrily at him. Since the poor girl had fainted, the doctor had been persistently saying how Gwyneth was their only hope, but Rose disagreed, unwilling to place the young girl in more danger. The Doctor leaned his head back and sighed. Rose turned back to Gwyneth and offered her a drink.

'Drink this' she said softly, tipping it into Gwyneth's mouth gently.

'Well, what did you say, Doctor? Explain it again. What are they?' Mr Sneed requested, struggling to get his head around it.

'Aliens' the doctor said simply.

'Like... foreigners, you mean?' Mr Sneed asked confusedly.

'Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there' he replied, pointing upwards.

'Brecon?' Mr Sneed asked obliviously.

'Close. They've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes' the doctor explained quickly.

'Which is why they need the girl' Charles stated for near the fireplace.

'They're not having her' Rose nearly spat, and Craig nodded in agreement.

'But she can help. Living on the rift, she's become part of it, she can open it up, make a bridge and let them through' the doctor countered.

'Incredible. Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers' Charles commented, soundly slightly intoxicated from the large brandy he was drinking, his third.

'Good system. It might work' the doctor stated softly, but Rose looked outraged, getting up and striding over to him.

'You can't let them run around inside dead people!' she persisted.

'Why not? It's like recycling' he countered.

'Seriously though, you can't' she tried.

'Seriously though, I can' he shot back, and Craig hastily turned a laugh into a cough. Seeing them argue was just like watching an old married couple!

'It's just... wrong! Those bodies were living people! We should respect them even in death!' Rose pointed out.

'Do you carry a donor card?' the doctor argued, sighing slightly.

'That's different, that's…' Rose tried but was cut off.

'It is different, yeah. It's a different morality. Get used to it or go home' he said harshly. When Rose was silent, he realised he had been a bit too harsh on her. He could see why she would disagree, he didn't really like it either, but with an entire species hanging in the balance, the morality of the situation couldn't come into it. He spoke again, but this time in a much softer tones, willing her to understand.

'You heard what they said, time's short. I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying' he stated, softly but firmly.

'And what about you Craig, what do you think?' the doctor asked, and all eyes in the room turned to him, making him feel slightly on the spot.

'Well, I suppose… I agree with the doctor' he admitted, and Rose looked greatly annoyed.

'You think letting them steal bodies is acceptable' she shot at her brother.

'No, but if they're going to die, if this could help let the Gelth species carry on, help them survive, I don't think it's fair to deny them the chance over some people who have lived their lives and passed on, however creepy the idea is' he said softly, whilst the doctor smiled gratefully at him, but Rose still looked unconvinced. Since Craig had worded it better she had to admit it did make more sense, but it was still creepy!

'And you say it won't hurt Gwyneth?' he asked the Doctor.

'She grew up on the rift, she's part of it, plus the Gelth can protect her so that her mind doesn't burn up' the Doctor stated reassuringly.

'Then don't I get a say in this?' Gwyneth spoke up.

'Of course you do Gwyneth, it's entirely your choice' Craig spoke up before anybody else could. It was true after all; it was Gwyneth they needed so it would be wrong for them to decide for her.

'I know that you are scared for me Miss, and in all honesty I am too. But I want to help my angels to live, so Doctor, what do I have to do?' she asked the doctor.

'You don't HAVE to do anything, like Craig said it's your choice entirely whether or not you help' he said kindly, partly wanting to show Rose that he wouldn't do this without consulting everyone on the matter.

'They've been singing to me since I was a child. Sent by my mum on a holy mission. So tell me' she persisted, and the doctor smiled broadly at her.

'We need to find the rift' he said, approaching Mr Sneed and Charles.

'This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mr Sneed. What's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?' he asked quickly.

'That would be the Morgue' Mr Sneed shrugged.

'No chance you were gonna say 'gazebo', was there?' Rose said, still looking disgruntled at the idea. Everybody just stared at her, except the Doctor and Craig who merely laughed.

**...**

**And there's Seance! Tell me what you think, and take a guess at what Gwyneth's predictions were about. I wanted to make them warning about events to come in the future, but not give too much away, and with changes to their characters, I hope that nobody guess straight away what is going to happen. Anyway, the final chapter of The Unquiet Dead is called Betrayal, but in the meantime, please review your ideas for potiential stories, and get voting to have your say in what will happen to Craig Tyler!**


	12. The Unquiet Dead, Betrayal

**Hello to all readers! Here is the last part of The Unquiet Dead, and I must say I am pleased with the interest people seem to be having in this story, so Thank You All! In this chapter, we once again see fate being changed, with again some forewarnings to the future : ) I still do not own Doctor Who, I am however the owner of a certain Craig Tyler! Read at your own risk, as the Gelth are coming through in force...**

**The Unquiet Dead**

**The Unquiet Dead – Betrayal**

Mr Sneed had quickly lead them all down to the morgue, which was situated in the cellar beneath the ground. It was made of stone walls and floors, had many rickety tables covered in sheets, hiding dead bodies from sight. The doctor lead the way in, with the others close behind him.

'Talk about Bleak House' the doctor commented.

'Not to mention freezing' Craig added, rubbing his arms to warm them up.

'The thing is, Doctor, the Gelth don't succeed. 'Cause I know they don't. I know for a fact there weren't corpses walking around in 1869' Rose pointed out.

'Time's in flux. It's changing every second. Your cosy little world could be rewritten like that' he emphasised the easiness of this by snapping his fingers.

'Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing' he warned.

'Doctor, I think the room is getting colder' Charles suddenly pointed out, and indeed it did feel as if the temperature was dropping.

'Here they come' Rose breathed, as the lead Gelth flooded into the room, situated beneath an arch. When it spoke, it spoke with the voice of a child.

'You have come to help! Praise the Doctor! Praise him!' it cried thankfully.

'Promise you won't hurt her!' Rose cried at it.

'Hurry! Please. So little time. Pity the Gelth' it replied, completely ignoring Rose's worry.

'I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, alright?' the doctor chose to clarify.

'My angels. I can help them live' Gwyneth said hopefully, watching the Gelth happily.

'Okay, where's the weak point?' the doctor asked.

'Here, beneath the arch' was the reply, and Gwyneth went to stand there, but stopped when Rose rushed up to her.

'You don't have to do this' she pointed out desperately. Gwyneth merely smiled and placed a hand on her cheek.

'My angels' she said, as if this confirmed her decision. Rose staggered backwards to the doctor and Craig's side.

'Establish the bridge, reach out of the void, let us through!' the Gelth spoke out.

'Yes. I can see you! I can see you! Come!' Gwyneth said in an almost breathless voice.

'Bridgehead establishing' the Gelth commented.

'Come! Come to me! Come to this world, poor lost souls!' Gwyneth cried out happily.

'It is begun! The bridge is made!' the Gelth said delightedly, as Gwyneth's mouth opened wide, a bright white shining out, as many pour Gelth began pouring out, floating around the ceiling.

'She has given herself to the Gelth!' the Gelth said happily.

'There's rather a lot of them, eh?' Charles commented nervously.

'The bridge is open. We descend' as it said this, the Gelth lost it beautiful blue colour and became a harsh red and black, now looking demonic as opposed to angelic.

'The Gelth will come through in force' it spoke in a much deeper and harsher voice.

'You said that you were few in number!' Charles spat angrily, furious at the deceit.

'A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses' it told them, as the Gelth began pouring into the bodies on the tables, their inhabitants slowly climbing up, all with ghostly pale blue eyes, their flesh very pale.

'Gwyneth... stop this! Listen to your master! This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, leave these things alone. I beg of you' Mr Sneed pleaded with her, completely missing a large Zombie come up silently behind him.

'Mr Sneed! Get back!' Rose tried but too late, as the corpse grabbed him and held him still. Another Gelth quickly forced its way into him through his mouth, and wheezing, Mr Sneed fell to his knees, whilst the Doctor, Rose and Craig all leapt back in horror. When he looked up at them, his eyes were blank, and he was dead.

'I think it's gone a little bit wrong' the Doctor whispered as the three of them started to back away as Mr Sneed's body rose to his feet.

'I have joined the legions of the Gelth. Come. March with us.' Sneed's body said, with its owners voice mixed with that of another.

'No!' Charles cried in horror, though he was relative safe by his position at the door, whilst the corpses were now all advancing on the time travellers.

'We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead.' The Gelth commented with a sneer. They were backing the three of them against a large barred door, a dungeon door!

'Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back! Now!' the Doctor tried.

'Four more bodies convertible. Make them vessels for the Gelth' Gwyneth spoke out, her voice emotionless.

'What have you done to her?! She was trying to help you, you betrayed her!' Craig yelled at the Gelth.

'Oh let her live, live only to die in a few second's time. Those seconds can be her reward before she fully gives herself to glory' the leader Gelth laughed as Gwyneth slumped forwards, dazed and weak, but thankfully alive.

'Gwyneth, run! Get away' Rose shouted, whilst the doctor grabbed a hold of her and Craig, forcing them into the confined cell, slamming the door shut and locking it. Another Gelth floated towards Gwyneth, but she ducked at the last second and it missed her. She quickly retreated to where Charles was standing, a terrified expression on her face.

'Doctor, I… I can't! I'm sorry!' Charles cried out 'It's too much for me! I'm so…' he was cut off by a loud wail from a Gelth, and with a final fearful look, the famous writer fled the room.

'Gwyneth, you go too, get as far away from here as you can!' Craig yelled at her, and with an apologetic look at her three friends, Gwyneth too fled the dungeon, screaming that she was sorry as she went. The corpses had reached the door and were rattled against it, whilst some were reaching through the bars. To avoid them, the three flattened themselves against the back wall.

'Give yourself to glory. Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth' the zombies said as one, in perfect synch.

'I trusted you. I pitied you!' the doctor spat angrily.

'We don't want your pity! We want this world and all its flesh.' The zombies snapped harshly.

'Not while I'm alive' the doctor retorted determinedly.

'Then live no more' was the simple smug reply.

'But I can't die. Tell me I can't! I haven't even been born yet, it's impossible for me to die! Isn't it?!' rose asked, looking at the Doctor desperately for reassurance.

'Sssh, it'll be alright' Craig whispered in her ear, pulling her into a hug. And he would do everything he could to make sure it was alright, he couldn't let that happen to his baby sister!

'I'm sorry' the doctor said weakly.

'But how can we die now?' Rose asked her voice close to a sob.

'Time isn't fixed, that means it can change shape' Craig stated softly, sure that he was correct in his thinking.

'He's right. You can be born in the 20th century and die in the 19th and it's all my fault. I brought you here' he said guiltily.

'It isn't your fault, we both wanted to come' Craig said softly. He would hate it if the doctor blamed himself for what was to come. Rose also nodded at this, showing that she didn't blame him either.

'What about me? I saw the fall of Troy! World War Five! I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party, now I'm going to die in a dungeon! In Cardiff!' he added looking disgusted and horrified at the idea.

'Oh lay off Cardiff, it's a great place' Craig muttered softly, and the doctor actually chuckled despite the fact that they were surely going to die within a minute.

'But it's not just dying. We'll all become one of them' Rose pointed out, and their uneasy expression grew. Craig wasn't so much afraid of being killed, but the thought of being used to kill others terrified him.

'Then we'll go down fighting yeah, the three of us?' he commented, and both Rose and the Doctor weakly noticed. The doctor slipped one hand into Rose's, the other into Craig's.

'I'm so glad I met the two of you' he said smiling softly.

'Me too' she grinned slightly.

'Me three' Craig added, laughing weakly. At that exact moment, Charles burst back into the room, Gwyneth at his side. They both wore a determined expression on their faces.

'Doctor!' Charles shouted above the wailing.

'Miss, Sirs!' Gwyneth cried too.

'Doctor! Turn OFF the flame, turn UP the gas! Now fill the room, all of it, now' Charles ordered, hurrying over to a lamp on the wall, turning down the flame whilst gas hissed out.

'What're you doing?' the doctor asked confused as the three of them peered at them through the gap in the Zombies.

'Turn it all on! Gas the entire room!' Gwyneth answered, hurrying over to another lamp and repeating the procedure.

'Brilliant. Gas!' the doctor whispered.

'Oh great, at least by choking to death we won't be turned into zombies whilst still alive' Craig added drily.

'Are we correct, sir? These creatures are gaseous!' Gwyneth said happily.

'Fill the room with gas; it'll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!' he grinned, but it faltered slightly as the corpses finally noticed that there were two more bodies who were easier targets.

'I hope... oh, Lord. I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately' Charles said nervously as he place himself protectively in front of a whimpering Gwyneth.

'Plenty more!' the doctor called out, seizing a pipe lining the wall in the cell and ripping it out. At the same instant, Craig wretched a tap of the wall, and even more gas began flooding the room. Coughing slightly, the three of them grinned as with a hitch pitched wail, the Gelth were all dragged out of the corpses, which weakly fell to the ground.

'Oh thank the lords, its working' Gwyneth gasped weakly, as the doctor unlocked the barred door and the three of them rushed out of the cell.

'Gwyneth, they lied to us but you are still part of the rift, you can send them back' the doctor said quickly. Gwyneth instantly closed her eyes and her face screwed up in pain, but it was no good.

'They're too strong' she said weakly.

'You can do, send them back' the doctor said encouragingly.

'I can't send them back, but I saw into their minds, there is a way to stop them' Gwyneth admitted, and from out of her pocket, she brought a small box of matches.

'You can't!' Rose screamed, realising what she intended to do.

'Charles, get her out of here, Gwyneth, Craig you too. I'll do it' the doctor said, and before anybody could argue, he seized the box from Gwyneth's hand. Knowing it was useless to argue; Craig grabbed Rose's hand and dragged her out of the room, Charles doing the same to Gwyneth. The four of them ran as fast as they could, just managing to reach the street before the entire building exploded, chunks of rubble and shards of glass bursting outwards. The four of them stared up at the house in horror, seeing flames dancing in every room.

'Doctor!' Rose screamed desperately, tears already leaking down her face. Craig quickly put a comforting arm around her shoulders as she rested her head on his shoulder, his own tears falling, nearly landing in her hair.

'Here I am!' came a cheerful reply, and turning on the spot, their mouths dropped open to see him standing there.

'What, how did you…' Craig asked gobsmacked.

'You know me Craig, I've had plenty of practice running quickly' he grinned, before Rose literally hurled herself at him and proceeded to crush the air from his lungs.

'You stupid, stupid idiot' she sobbed, before pulling back and grinning happily.

'I know, but you love me for it' he teased.

'So is that it Doctor, is it over?' Charles asked.

'Yes sir, they are gone, I no longer feel them in my mind' Gwyneth spoke up.

'You're free now Gwyneth, you won't hear them anymore' he told her with a small smile, which she returned slightly.

'Even if they were the last of the Gelth, you do have to realise the cost of saving the world' Craig said softly, and the five of them stood for a moment, looking up at the burning building and the stars above.

…

After walking swiftly back through the snowy street, the three time travellers, Charles, and Gwyneth all stopped before the Tardis.

'Right then, Charlie-boy, I've just got to go into my um… shed. Won't be long!' the doctor said cheerfully, as he fitted a key into the lock.

'What're you going to do now?' Craig asked Charles.

'I shall take the mail coach back to London. Quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital' Charles said beaming.

'You've cheered up!' the doctor commented with a grin.

'Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world and now I know I've just started! All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor! I'm inspired. I must write about them!' Charles cried enthusiastically.

'Do you think that's wise?' Craig asked.

'I shall be subtle at first. The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word! Tell the truth!' he beamed once more.

'And what about you Gwyneth?' Craig asked, but once more it was Charles who answered.

'You may come with me if you wish. I am reaching an elderly age and will soon need help running my affairs. I would not see you turned out into the cold' Charles offered her will a smile.

'Oh thank you kind sir, thank you!' Gwyneth beamed, bowing her head slightly in gratitude.

'Good luck with it. Charles, look after her, Gwyneth, look after him' the doctor said as he shook both their hands.

'It was really fantastic meeting you' Craig smiled as he too shook their hands.

'Bye, then. And, thanks, for everything' Rose smiled, giving Charles a kiss on the cheek and Gwyneth a little hug.

'Oh, my dear… how modern. Thank you, but, I don't understand, in what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?' Charles asked puzzled.

'They are to carry on travelling, all the way through the stars' Gwyneth said ominously.

'Indeed we are' the doctor grinned 'Right, into the shed' he said to Craig and Rose.

'Oh, my soul. Doctor, its one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this, who are you?' Charles asked, and after a pause.

'Just a friend. Passing through' the doctor chose to reply with.

'But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books, Doctor, do they last?' Charles asked, his voice showing he was literally begging to know.

'Oh Charles, they'll last forever, I told you, they're my favourite' Craig smiled at him. Charles tried find to look please yet modest at the same time.

'Right. Shed. Come on, you two…' the doctor said cheerfully, and all three of them turned to the door.

'In… in the box? All of you?' Charles sputtered.

'Down boy. See ya!' the doctor grinned slightly.

'Remember my warning though Sir Craig, the wolf is certainly on its way for you' Gwyneth stated, and with a slightly puzzled look from Craig, the doctor pulled the door shut before he could ask what she meant.

…

'Do you know what she meant, about the wolf' the doctor asked as the three of them approached the control's, watching Gwyneth and Charles on the screen, giggling slightly at their confused expression.

'No idea, but she did mention something about a Bad Wolf or something like that' Craig replied thoughtfully.

'Well, she was slightly psychic, maybe it'll make sense in the future' Rose reasoned.

'Yeah… maybe' the doctor said, soundly slightly distance.

'But never mind that, won't history be changed if Charles writes about blue ghosts' Craig pointed out, deliberately trying to change the subject.

'In a week's time it's 1870, and that's the year he dies. Sorry. He'll never get to tell his story' the doctor said softly.

'Oh, no! He was so nice' Rose said sadly. It was so sad that he had saved their lives but wouldn't be able to tell anybody what had happened.

'Well, maybe the story will live on in Gwyneth' Craig reasoned to try and cheer his little sister up slightly, an effort she appreciated.

'Plus in your time, he was already dead! We've brought him back to life! He's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie-boy. Let's give them both one last surprise' the doctor grinned, pressing a button on the console. The three of they all laughed as Charles's and Gwyneth's mouths both dropped open as the Tardis faded away, taking them on to a brand new adventure.

**...**

**And there's The Unquiet Dead! Now I know what some people might be thinking, Oh this is going to be a story where everybody gets saved. IT IS NOT, I HATE those stories. What I do like is for SOME characters to have different fates, whilst some deaths are inavoidable, so fear not, Craig will not save everyone. And I know that the doctor said she was dead the moment she stood in the arch, but I've always thought that he was wrong, and that she survived the first few minutes, just in agony, before she was finally let go, so in my version it seemed plausible to save Gwyneth. Please review your thoughts and ideas, now more than ever, because I am proud to say that the next episode is not going to be Aliens of London, but one of my own! And I've been leaving little snipets giving you forewarning about it, so if you want to know ahead, go back to chapter 3 (Rose and Craig, Bigger on the Inside) and chapter 6 (The End of the World, Tree & Skin & Face) and look carefully for them! I will then go onto Aliens of London, but it's going to be set out as two episode, with eight chapters minimum! Any guesses on what it might be are welcome in reviews, and please continue to vote on the fate of Craig Tyler!**


	13. The Ship of Dreams, The Titanic

**Woohoo! I'm finally at the point in the series where I can take The Doctor, Rose, and Craig onto one of my own adventures. So welcome to my own first episode, The Ship of Dreams! I've been dropping hints about this all the way back to Rose and Craig, in the library scene, and The End of the World, the conversation between the doctor and jabe about platform one, and here we finally are! I suppose that this adventure is a mini crossover into the Titanic film, so as my disclaimer, I do not own Doctor Who or Titanic, But I do own Craig Tyler, and this idea is completely my own! All aboard the Ship of Dreams!**

**...**

**The Ship of Dreams**

**The Ship of Dreams – The Titanic**

After a smooth ride for a change, the Tardis landed with a soft landing, and the Doctor looked exceptionally happy with himself.

'HA! Perfect landing, and added points for such a tight spot' he grinned.

'We should be used to tight spots by now' Rose giggled.

'Exactly, keeps us on our toes' he smirked.

'So where are we this time' Craig asked, his excitement already building.

'We're somewhere I've always wanted to go, I thought you two might like to see it, a fixed point in time' the doctor smiled kindly, indicating towards the doors. Grinning at him, Craig ran over to them and pulled them open. Looking out, he could see the rippling waves of the sea for hundreds and hundreds of miles, smell the salt in the air, feel a cold wind on his face. Beneath his feet was highly polished wooden panels, and in front of him was a painted white railing.

Walking over to it, he leaned over and saw dozens of people walking around on the deck below, and when he heard a bell ring, he looked up to see the Captain's cabin. But it was the name on the life ring beside the door which caught his attention. In block capitals was one word, just one; TITANIC.

'No Way! Aha, that's just… Fantastic' he laughed out as the doctor and rose stepped out next to him, taking in their surroundings.

'Yep, this is one of those things I was telling you about Craig, points in history that have to stay how they are, for the sake of the future' he stated quietly as to not attract attention.

'But if events like the Titanic need to happen, doesn't it make it dangerous for us to be here?' Rose asked curiously.

'As long as we don't change anything, it should be okay' the doctor replied, a slight smile gracing his features.

'But if we're not here to change it or save people, what are we doing here?' Craig asked confused.

'Fun, I've always wanted to see the Titanic in its majesty, I've just never gotten around to it' he grinned as they began walking around the deck, but as it went on for miles, it would be a while until they completed the loop, plenty of time to look around.

…

It turned out they had landed in the upper class half of the ship, so people were walking around in similar, yet slightly updated versions of Craig and Rose's outfits from their trip to 1980. But since they had changed back into their own cloths, the three of them must have stuck out like a sore thumb, yet nobody cast them a second glance as they wandered around the ship, breathing in the sea air, hearing the seagulls crowing, and watching a school of dolphins leaping out of the water.

'So, tonight's the night' the doctor sighed as he suddenly picked up a discarded newspaper on a bench, revealing the date to be April 14th 1912.

'How long has it got?' Rose asked sadly as the ground to a halt.

'Well let's see' he said, looking at his watch 'It 1pm now, so that makes it ten hours until it hits the iceberg, and then at 2:20 in the morning, it'll be fully submerged' he calculated.

'God, these people only have ten hours left until…' Craig trailed off, looking at the happy, excited faces around them, none of them knowing that they would never make it to America. And it made him want to cry for them.

'Until they become part of history' the doctor said mournfully, and with that, they set off at a slow pace once more, looking around the ship before it's time was up.

…

They had ventured into the lower class part of the ship, though Craig noted that this part of the ship was much more to his liking. The people all showed their excitement much more loosely than the higher class, and children were running around shouting happily. But Craig was beginning to tire. Considering he worked part time in an office, he had done an extraordinary amount of running in the past few days, and it was beginning to catch up on him. Noting his slower pace, the Doctor turned to face him.

'What's up, why've you stopped?' he asked.

'My feet are killing me, its outstanding, the amount of running you need to do when travelling with you' Craig pouted.

'He's right you know, but then again, he might just be lazy' Rose smirked as Craig pouted even more, and the doctor laughed loudly at him.

'If you two are gonna keep taking the mick you can just let me stay here for a bit' he stated, a light snap in his voice, but his cheeky grin still on his face.

'You sure, I mean this ship is huge; it could take a while to find us' the doctor pointed out.

'I'm sure I'll manage, I am an adult after all' Craig countered as he sat down on an empty bench in a line of them. Grinning at him, the doctor and Rose carried on, waving back at him. Giving them a little wave back, Craig took to looking out at the sea, and for how long he sat there, staring out, thinking about the horrific events to come later that night, he was dragged back to reality as the sounds of scratching against paper filled his ears. Confused, he looked around for the source of the noise, finally finding it as a man sitting on a bench near to him. He kept looking from Craig, and back to the page in front of him. He was clearly drawing Craig, and he wanted to know why.

The man looked to be taller than him and only a few years older, with brownish blonde hair combed across out of his face, though it was shorter then Craig's, and much less golden. He had a well-toned body, and was rather hansom in Craig's opinion; and was wearing a white t-shirt under a dark blue buttoned up shirt. His trousers were a dusty camel colour, and were held up by matching suspenders. His eyes were bright blue, and held a great kindness within.

'What exactly are you doing?' he called across to the man.

'Drawing you, so don't move' was the simple reply without even looking up, and a bemused Craig smiled slightly at the sharp demand, but remained in his position, looking out onto the sea. He listened to the oddly therapeutic sound of the scratching of the pencil on parchment, until suddenly it stopped, and turning, he saw the man smiling and beckoning him over. In a flash, Craig was sitting next to the man, and his eyes widened in surprize. The drawing was accurate in toning and shape, though he looked slightly more angelic like than he thought of himself. His hair had been drawn blowing around his head, almost like a halo, and his eyes seemed to by shimmering oh so slightly, but despite this, this man had immense talent for capture people in precious little moments like this.

'Wow, that's amazing, even if you did make me look more angelic than I am' Craig grinned at the man.

'Thanks, but I think you look like an angel, even if you can't find it within yourself. But there's something off about you' he commented, and Craig quirked an eyebrow in confusion.

'I've been all over, and I've never seen anybody wear cloths like yours, or with hair that is clearly not natural to man' he elaborated, and Craig had to admit this man was good for noticing small details like that, but he couldn't exactly tell him how that was possible.

'Well, maybe I just come from somewhere you've never been too' he cheekily replied, and the man laughed.

'And an answer ready in case somebody notices yet his accent tells me he's from the great town of London, I like you even more. Name's Jack, Jack Dawson' he said with a cocky grin, extending his hand.

'Craig Tyler' he grasped Jack's hand and found his grip to be very firm, firm for one who could draw so carefully.

'So Craig Tyler, tell me, how is it that your appearance and fashion has clearly been altered from the world in which we live' he asked with a light smirk, and Craig had to hide a knowing smile.

'Tell me why you seem so intent on discovering a man's inner secrets' he countered, and once again Jack let out a deep laugh.

'And still he refuses to say an answer to what I ask' he grinned.

'Ask another question then' Craig smirked.

'What're you headed for in America' he queried.

'Oh, I'm just a traveller, me and my friends or just travelling about' he said.

'And the mystery of Craig Tyler deepens, I certainly look forward to puzzling you out' Jack chuckled, and Craig laughed.

'So what about you, what're you heading to America for, Jack Dawson' he asked.

'Well, my mama and papa died, I gotta look after myself, so I'm following all the others, all the way from Ireland, a better life' he stated softly.

'What, everyone on this ship is trying to improve their lives?' Craig asked sadly. He knew that the Titanic had crashed, he even knew just how large a sense of tragedy it had caused, but he hadn't really known that everyone was trying to just get a better life for themselves, that the chance he been cruelly taken from them before they had even arrived.

'Well, the lower class anyway, the higher class, probably not so much' Jack admitted.

'That sucks' Craig chuckled slightly.

'Yep, but we're all heading for a land of hope, a united dream' Jack grinned happily. Craig smiled outwardly, but on the inside his heart was beginning to break. All these people, all wanted to live a better life, had no idea that the moment they had stepped on this ship that they would die, their dreams shattered to fragments.

…

The doctor and rose had taken to holding hands as they walked around the deck, all the while the Doctor was relaying the events of what was going to happen to Rose, quietly as to not alert anybody of course. He had just reached the point where 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown' had supposedly rallied the boats into searching for survivor in the water, when a young woman approached them.

The woman was tall and slender, with a pretty red dress and a cream cardigan over her chest. Her hair was a bright red and was piled behind her head, flowing slightly into curls. Her eyes were a pale blue and she looked to be only slightly younger then Rose.

'Good Morning kind sir and fair lady, I was wondering if you may be able to assist me, if it is not too much trouble' she stated in a well-rehearsed, posh voice. She had clearly grown up with money and was well versed in good manners.

'It's no trouble at all, how can we help, I'm the doctor, this is Rose Tyler' the doctor smiled helpfully at her, but was confused when she let out a small chuckle.

'Another Rose? I also happen to be named after the same flower, but for simplicity's sake, call me Rosie' Rose, or rather Rosie, introduced herself 'I was wondering if you had seen a man, a bit taller than me, with blondish brown hair and blue eyes' she asked.

'No, sorry we haven't seen anybody like that' the doctor said regrettably.

'We could help you look for him if you like' Rose offered with a smile.

'Oh that would be terribly good of you, thank you both so much' she smiled graciously and gratefully. And soon the pair and their new friend were walking around the deck together, conversing politely with their new acquaintance, who revealed that the reason she was so eager to find this man, was that he had in fact saved her life.

…

'So, you wanna go?' Jack suddenly pulled him from his thoughts. At Craig's confused look, he elaborated.

'Drawing, you much of an artist Craig Tyler?' he asked, and Craig shrugged, he had done Art in school and passed with a high grade, but there were plenty of people in his class better than him.

'Oh come on! Have a bit of fun, I could teach you' Jack grinned, thrusting his pad of paper and pencil into Craig's hands, and with a slight sigh, Craig looked around the deck for something to draw, until he decided on drawing from memory, the doctor and rose. He closed his eyes and pictured them in his mind, and keeping the image in his thoughts, began sketching their outlines out. Every now and then, Jack would place his hand over his and guide his sketching to keep the proportions correct. It had turned out quite well, not as good as Jack's but still quite detailed and showed some talent.

'Not bad, not bad at all Craig' Jack smiled as he looked at the finished piece 'So, who are those two then'

'My friend the doctor and my sister Rose, they're on the ship with me' Craig explained.

'Heh, that's funny, I met a girl called Rose last night, maybe it's her' Jack mused, but Craig knew it couldn't have been. Not unless they had gone back to the night before in the Tardis, though he was sure the Doctor wouldn't allow that.

'But then again, she looked nothing like the drawing you've done' he added. Craig was about to reply, when the entire ship lurched forwards, sending them crashing to the floor as the ship's speed rapidly increased, a speed that was impossible to achieve in 1912!

…

Rosie had been telling the doctor and Rose about herself, at their request, revealing that her full name was Rose DeWitt Bukater, and that she, her mother Ruth, and fiancée Caledon 'Cal' Hockley. The word 'Cal' seemed to jog something in the doctor's memory, but unable to place it, he let it pass for the time being, and instead picked up on the bitter tone in her voice about this fiancée. He was about to question her about it, when the entire ship suddenly jerked out from underneath him.

'What is it? What's happening?' Rose shouted as she clung onto the doctor's hand. The pair of them, and Rosie, had been thrown to the floor as the ship tore through the water at incredible speed. Rosie was screaming as she had tumbled under the railing, and was hanging on for dear life, to prevent herself from falling to the lower deck. Normal the fall wouldn't have been that bad, but at this speed, it was probable it would damage her body greatly. But with a sudden jerk, the Titanic slowed down, before coming to a complete stop.

Reaching quickly, the doctor ran over to Rosie, and with Rose helping, pulled her back up.

'Oh… Oh my… thank you' she gasped out, clutching at her chest from the shock.

'Never mind that though, what the hell was that?' Rose demanded.

'Trouble' was the doctor's solemn reply.

**...**

**Hooray, my first own adventure's chapter! I loved writing this because it gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted, plus I've had this in mind for ages so I could change the dialogue about the Titanic in the original scripts : ) So what the heck is going on with this fixed moment in time?! To find out, I want at least four reviews from this chapter, and I won't post the next one until I have them : ) Only kidding, but I do want reviews so I can know if you like this new story so far and want to see more in the future, I already have a few swirling ideas in my mind! Oh, and by the way, the Craig Tyler poll is still running, so get avoting please!**


	14. The Ship of Dreams, Investigations

**And here's the second installment of The Ship of Dreams : ) Bit of a fast moving chapter, but in all honesty, this episode is going to be pretty quick moving! I do not own Doctor Who, nor do I own Titanic, but I do own Craig Tyler, plus a new character called Olca MacTire! His name will be explained in this chapter, so read on, and enjoy : )**

**...**

**The Ship of Dreams**

**The Ship of Dreams – Investigations**

'Please Remain Calm, the sudden burst of speed was caused by the boiler being overloaded, and we have had to stop to allow it time to cool down, everything is fine and we will resume voyage within two hours' the captain was calling over the shouts of everybody on the ship.

'There's no way that was caused by the boilers, no ship until at least the 24th century could move that fast, something else helped it' the doctor told Rose as they ran through the ship, pushing their way through the worried, yet disbursing crowds, Rosie right behind them.

'What is it, aliens?' Rose asked.

'What are you two talking about, the 24th Century and Aliens, you're making no sense' Rosie spoke up as they ran around a corner, but instead of answering her, the doctor chose to answer Rose.

'Could be, but whatever just happened, we need to find the cause, I told you, Titanic is fixed, if it changes, the entire timeline could shatter, the entire universe' he said, fear lining his voice.

'If the two of you could please return to sanity!' Rosie cried out, finally attracting their attention.

'Yes, sorry, we were helping you find that man weren't we, but right now, we really need to find the source of the power burst or whatever it was' the doctor said hurriedly but politely.

'You heard the captain, he said the voyage would resume soon' Rosie countered.

'But do you really want to risk travelling at that speed again, I'm surprized the bottom of the ship didn't burn up' Rose said, slightly breathless from the effect it had had on her lungs.

'That'll be because of the freezing waters' the doctor thought aloud, hurrying along the deck. They really needed to get to the bottom of this quickly, and they had to find Craig in one piece.

…

'Whoa, whoa there, you alright Craig?' Jack asked concernedly as he pulled Craig to his feet. Looking around, he saw that all the other passengers in the area had also fallen over.

'Yeah, I'm fine, but what the hell was that?' he thought aloud, looking around frantically for the answer.

'No clue, I've never heard of a ship moving so fast, that'll get us to America quicker' Jack grinned, and Craig's eyes widened. What if Jack was right? Craig didn't know what would happen if a fixed point in time was altered, but he was pretty sure the outcome wouldn't be pretty. Maybe, just maybe, this might have caused the whole of history to be thrown off. He needed to find the Doctor!

'Well, thank you Jack Dawson, but right now I need to go find that friend of mine' Craig put on a brave smile, but one look from Jack told him it wouldn't be that easy.

'Nah-uh, there's no way I'll let you just wander off alone if travelling at that speed could be dangerous, I'll help you look' Jack offered, pointedly ignoring Craig when he opened his mouth to argue. Sighing, Craig held up his hands in surrender, and began running through the yelling crowds, heading towards the way the doctor and rose had left in.

…

'Right, so you're saying that being from beyond the stars are responsible for the increased speed of the ship for such a short period' Rosie stated in disbelief as they continued around the deck. The doctor had given her a very rushed theory at her demand, and now she was gapping at them in shock.

'I know it sounds mad but…' Rose tried.

'Madness is but a state of mind, yet your minds seem somewhat different to those of the natural world' Rosie said softly, deep in thought.

'Very poetic' the doctor commented, slightly impressed by the thought she had voice. Suddenly, a voice behind them halted them in their tracks.

'Doctor! Rose!' Craig yelled, rushing up to them, panting slightly as he came to a skidded stop before them. Another man was at his side as the three watched them both surprized.

'Are you alright, after that burst of speed' the doctor asked concernedly.

'Yeah, I'm fine, but it's bad right, bad because Titanic is…' Craig trailed off, suddenly remembering that there were two non-time travellers in their company, who had no idea about the devastation to come.

'Titanic is what' Rosie asked, before realising who Craig's friend was 'Oh, hello Mr Dawson, I was looking for you before this increase in speed occurred' she stated.

'Hello Rose' Jack smiled at her.

'I'm afraid you must excuse us, after all, my fiancé has invited Jack to dine with us and we must prepare, thank you Sir Doctor and Miss Tyler' Rosie said gratefully.

'And you Craig Tyler, I wanna have another talk with you later' Jack sent him a cheeky grin, and with a small wave to a bewildered Doctor and Rose, the pair of them briskly walked off.

'Please tell me you didn't tell him anything' the doctor almost begged.

'Oh yes doctor, I told him that the Titanic was going to sink and that I knew about it was because I'm really from the future. I decided to leave out the part where I escaped from an insane asylum' Craig laughed. Rose giggle and the doctor let out a relieved laugh.

'Yeah, you probably would be sectioned if you told him about that' the doctor agreed.

'Or looked like a homeless guy with an 'End is Nigh' sign' Rose laughed, and Craig shivered but chuckled at the image it presented, whilst the doctor laughed hysterically.

'Anyway, is it bad' Craig repeated.

'Very, fixed points give structure to time, without it, absolute chaos' the doctor answered.

'And you're sure that there was no increase in speed to hit the iceberg' Rose asked to clarify whether or not they should be presuming there's been an intervention.

'Nothing, there is no way the Titanic could go that fast without something or someone not of this planet helping it' the doctor said firmly.

'So where do we look? The engines?' Craig suggested.

'Our best bet, come on then, this way' the doctor smiled, and once again, they were at it with the running.

…

It turned out that the engine room was, in the complete sense of the word, foul! That was the first thought passing through Craig's head, that and how they could possible find anything abnormal in such a mess. The room itself was huge, filled with towering furnaces which cast a devil like scarlet glow around the room. The floor was covered in soot, as were the men shovelling chunks of coal into the engines. But despite piling more and more in, and what the captain had said earlier about the boilers needed to be cooled down, the ship simply wasn't moving.

'Hang on though doctor, they're still shovelling coal but we aren't moving' Rose voiced as the thought hit her too.

'I know, what the hell is going on with this ship' the doctor asked nobody in particular.

'Sirs, Miss, you really shouldn't be down here' a strong looking man in overalls blacked with soot yelled over the noise suddenly as he spotted them.

'That's alright mate' the doctor said, swiftly holding up the psychic paper.

'Oh, sorry mate, I didn't realise' the man said before returning to his task without another word.

'What did it say this time?' Rose giggled.

'That we're two engine experts and a maintaining inspector employed to check the engines after this morning mishap' the doctor said with a chuckle.

'Oh really, I'm definitely the Inspector!' Craig grinned as the three of them set off searching.

…

They had searched the entire room for over an hour by the time Craig had given up, and had found nothing. Whatever had caused the Titanic to go faster was not in the engine room, and eventually even the doctor had given up and suggested they returned topside to continue their search. Rose was beginning to think it would be impossible to find whatever they were looking for, especially before their time ran out. It was almost like somebody was testing them, seeing if they could stop their opponent before time run out.

'So where do we look now' Craig asked as he rubbed some soot off of his jeans, not that it really mattered since they were black but that wasn't the point!

'No clue, but maybe Rosie could give us an idea, she seems to be well acquainted with the top dogs on this ship' the doctor thought aloud.

'And another chance for Craig to see the lovely Jack again' Rose teased her brother, who smirked and rolled his eyes.

'Oh please, the way he was looking at Rosie, he's a love-struck man if I've ever seen one' he laughed. Rose went to reply, but the doctor cut her off, looking somewhat irritated.

'Honestly humans! We are on the Titanic, which someone is messing around with, rather dangerously might I add, and you two are debating whether some pretty boy likes some girl' he snapped lightly.

'There's certainly no debate over it' Craig chuckled as the annoyed look and the doctor's face grew.

'Alright Mr Grumpy Face, we'll stop. Rosie said something about dinner plans with Jack and her fiancé, so she'll probably be in the upper class dining room sometime this afternoon' Rose explained, giggling at the indignant expression Mr Grumpy Face had caused.

'Oh goodie, dress up time again' Craig smiled brightly, and with another short laugh, the doctor, Rose and Craig returned to the Tardis to change into something more appropriate for being in the upper class section of the ship.

…

Rose had selected another Victorian style dress, but this one was a sapphire blue and flowed to her feet, whilst over her shoulders was a darker blue shawl. She had curled her hair into loose curls which hung around her shoulders, pinned back by a large butterfly hairgrip with a small blue stone set in it. She had put some light blue eye shadow on, and deep pink lipstick, and was looking highly attractive yet very classy, completely beautiful the doctor thought as he stood opposite her in the control room, and he had told her as much himself.

Craig had managed to convince him he had to change this time, and had practically dragged him kicking and screaming to the wardrobe.

'We can't have you looking like some prison escapee in a posh restaurant like the upper class dining room' his argument had been, completely ignoring the doctor's protests. He had then forced the doctor into the changing room with a smart black suit, and then held the door shut until he gave in and got changed. In his black suit jacket and trousers, with a white shirt and black bowtie, Craig had said he looked rather hot, but he thought he looked like a complete monkey. Finally, once Craig had gotten changed into a suit like the doctor's, though his being a navy blue colour, the three of them set off to find Rosie, and more importantly, whatever the hell was messing with the titanic!

…

It was the later hours of the afternoon by the time they had decided that Rosie would be in the dining room of the upper class and thankfully the ship had resumed movement again. The doctor had judged that the distance they had travelled during the boost account for where the ship would be without it thanks to the delay, but as they slipped into the room, looking around in interest, Craig would admit that he felt somewhat out of place. He worked part time as an Office-boy, so to say he felt out of place was a huge understatement. It was this type of people, people who clearly thought they were better than him that made he would to run and hide. It was ironic in a way, he was openly gay and comfortable with that, bad mouthing be damned, but snobby people always had a way of making him feel a little bit smaller. Quietly sitting at an empty table, they quickly spotted Rosie chatting away with her mother and fiancé and their friends, whilst Jack sat rather quietly, having changed into a fine black suit making him look the part, but Craig suspected he had no idea how to act the part. When the other man glanced his way, Craig gave a little smile and wave which he sniggered at, but luckily it was timed with the laughter of one of Cal's jokes. The Doctor, Rose, and Craig patiently waited until the other group had finished their meal before they wandered over.

'Why Hello Lady Rose' the doctor said politely and formally, to give the impression he was of great class.

'Sir Doctor, and Mr and Miss Tyler also, delightful to see you again' Rosie played along.

'Excuse me, I don't believe we've been introduced' Cal said almost coldly. He was clearly a very protective and controlling fiancé for Rosie to have, and his demeanour was far too smug for Craig's liking. This man was the type to cause trouble, he could just tell. He was tall, had dark hair that was brushed into curtains near his ears, and had tanned skin, with cold dark eyes.

'Off course good man, my name is the Doctor, these are my travelling companions, Mr Craig Tyler and sibling Miss Rose Tyler' he introduced them.

'Another Rose, well Miss Tyler, a pleasure' he said huskily, oblivious to the small shiver Rose had as he shook her hand. Once he had shaken Craig's hand too, Rosie's mother chipped into the conversation.

'And I am Rose's mother, Ruth, forgive me but my daughter has never mentioned you previously, how exactly did you meet' the woman asked in a demanding voice. She too held a rather cold persona. She had faded red hair, and her face was beginning to show the effects time was having with many small wrinkles, but she would have been very pretty in her youth, like her daughter. She was wearing an expensive looking black dress, and was watching them with calculating and almost suspicious eyes.

'We met with Lady Rose this afternoon Ma'am, just after that terrible lurch of the ship' Craig spoke up.

'Ah yes, rather unpredicted that, still, the good Mr MacTire assured that it was just a small mishap, and that the ship shall be running again soon' Cal replied.

'Sorry, but who's Mr MacTire' Rose asked politely, putting on a slightly posher voice than her own. At this, Cal, Ruth, and even Rosie let out a small giggle.

'Surely you must have heard the jokes of Harland and Wolff Industries' Cal stated, but the trio shook their heads.

'The Wolff part of the title comes from the English translation of MacTire which means wolf. The amusing aspect is that the man's first name is Olca, from the Irish word Olc meaning bad, so his name literally translates as Bad Wolf' Rosie explained. The doctor and Rose both laughed at the name, but Craig's eyes widened slightly, memories flashing through his mind.

_'Time Lord! Bad Wolf'_

_'This is the Bad Wolf scenario'_

_'But you, you've seen it as well… the darkness… the big bad wolf'_

_'Remember my warning though Sir Craig, the wolf is certainly on its way for you'_

Everywhere they had gone since they had met the doctor; the words had been following them all the way, the past and the future. But before Craig could point this out, the doctor had changed the conversation to fit the more pressing matter they had a hand, in a casual way admittedly.

'So this Mr MacTire built the ship' he asked pleasantly.

'He owns the company that built Titanic yes, he and its architect Mr Andrews are travelling on its as it's honoured guests, they occasionally join us for dinner' Ruth replied, slightly bragging about her own connections.

'Oh, is he here, I would love to give him my praise for the well-designed ship he brought into creation' Rose said, realising where the doctor was leading the conversation and trying to help, for which he gave her a grateful smile.

'I've my eyes do not deceive me, I believe that he is just getting up from his table now' Ruth stated, pointing.

'Oh, well we may as well go give him our praise whilst he's here, thank you and a pleasure to meet you' the doctor said politely with a respectful nod at Ruth and a handshake with Cal. Craig and Rose followed him across the room as the doctor hurried to catch up with the man, catching him just outside the dining room doors.

'Mr MacTire?' he spoke, and turning, a short plump man wearing a black suit with a white shirt and black tie stood before them. He wore a top hat upon his bald head, and had a handlebar moustache. A monocle sat in one of his bright blue eyes. He reminded Craig on the station master of Thomas the Tank Engine!

'Yes Sir, I am he' he spoke in a deep warm voice.

'We just wanted to say how delighted we are to be able to travel on such a fine ship, and to congratulate you on such a job well done' the doctor spoke politely.

'It's an honour to meet the builder of such an excellent ship' Rose said with a slight curtsey. In Craig's opinion they were going slightly overboard, but Mr MacTire seemed to be grateful for their words.

'Why thank you, your comments are the type that much my heart swell that body love my ship so' he beamed.

'And might I say It's being such a smooth running, well expect for that lurch this morning' Craig added with a polite smile. Instantly the smile on Mr MacTire's face faltered, before he forced it back in place.

'Yes, that was most unfortunate, I'll admit it was unexpected, but everything seems to be in order now, but now I most apologise, I have a meeting with a dear friend I do not wish not be late for, farewell' he said politely, hurrying away from them.

'Oh he is so lying' Craig spoke through gritted teeth. That man knew exactly what that lurch was and what cause it. He was a part of this, but that wasn't what upset Craig, he had never been able to stomach liars.

'He is, so what do we do now' Rose asked quietly, as a party of diners passed them as they left the room.

'We find out what Mr MacTire is hiding, and what he knows about this' the doctor said determinedly. This needed to be stopped, now!

**...**

**And there we go! So, Olc translates to Bad and MacTire translates to Wolf, and it came into my head because when planning this story, I wanted to get some of the facts correct, and when I saw the name Harland and Wolff Industries I just fitted perfectly to the Bad Wolf meme! I have no idea who actually own the Industry, but in this Olca MacTire does. Please review your thoughts about this story so far, any ideas for adventures you'd like to see, or just how you're liking the story so far! And please get voting, I still have the end of this to plan : )**


	15. The Ship of Dreams, A Plot Unfolding

**And here's part three. Not being one to complain but I'd like more reviews telling me what you're thinking about this own adventure I've come up with, because the idea at the moment is to add a few more at various points, but if people don't like them then there's no point : ) I've added another minor character to this out of the film, Kora, the little girl that dances with Jack, but I've made her slightly more important, or at least her significance will be made clearer by the end of the story. I do not own Doctor Who or Titanic, but Craig Tyler is all mine! Enjoy.**

**...**

**The Ship of Dreams**

**The Ship of Dreams – A Plot Unfolding**

'So we're just going to follow him, not confront him' Rose asked, a little put out by this simple approach.

'This man is messing with history, so he might not be human' the doctor pointed out.

'Yeah, maybe he's a big bad wolf in disguise' Rose giggled and Craig let out a short but hushed laugh. The three of them had discreetly followed Mr MacTire to his room and were now listening at the door. For a while no noise came out, but then suddenly MacTire began talking to someone.

'People have been asking questions, what if somebody knows' MacTire asked fearfully.

'If somebody has found out I will deal with them' a harsh cold voice which didn't sound quite human answered bluntly.

'But… what if' MacTire stuttered out.

'But nothing, I shall not bargain with you MacTire, had it not have been for me you would be dead, you gave me your agreement, and you shall see the plan through or feel my wrath' the other voice snapped, whilst the Doctor's eyebrows rose, his mouth set in a frown.

'And all I have to do is activate them again, to get us to America tonight' MacTire asked, apparently giving in.

'Indeed, get this ship to America, and let the humans live in joy whilst I feed, but it must be before the stroke of Midnight, that leaves four hours' the voice stated.

'I… Ok' MacTire said wearily, and silence fell again. Without saying a word, the doctor gripped Craig and Rose's shoulders and lead them back down the white corridors, crossing the deep red carpets, around a corner, before poking his head back around, making sure MacTire didn't leave without their knowledge.

'So something off world is interfering' the doctor voiced.

'It said feed though, feed on what' Rose asked quietly in case MacTire came out.

'I think I'm beginning to get an idea of what's going on' the doctor admitted. Craig was about to ask what it was, when the door suddenly opened, and MacTire hurried off towards the door to the deck, not even noticing them hiding in the shadows.

…

They rushed after him, crouching down and weaving through confused looking passengers, all the way to the top deck, which is where they lost him. Growling softly, the doctor looked around in irritation.

'Right, we need to split up and find him' he stated.

'Ok, he said he needed to activate them… what's them' Rose asked quickly.

'No idea, but let's focus on where they could be right now' the doctor replied, a thoughtful look on his face.

'Ok, so they're not in the engine room, maybe, the Captain's cabin or the propellers' Craig came up with. With a grin, the doctor wrapped an arm around him in a quick hug.

'Craig Tyler, you're Fantastic sometimes' he beamed proudly.

'Ok, so why don't I look for MacTire, Craig goes to the Propellers, and you check out the Captain's Cabin' Rose planned; with when met with two nod, the trio went their separate ways, with the promise of being extremely careful and exchange of mobile numbers should they find anything.

…

Craig shivered slightly as he stood at the end of the deck, mist rolling in around him, the same mist which he knew would block sight of the iceberg, the mist that would kill over half the people on this ship. Tears came to his eyes at the thought of all the lives lost, and for half a second, he wondered whether they should just let this alien save everybody. He quickly dismissed this though, he didn't know what would happen, but the doctor was worried, and if the doctor was worried, then nothing good could come off this.

He was leaning over the railing, straining to see anything odd on the propellers, but the only things he could see were two small green lights, blinking repeatedly. He quickly drew out his phone and called the Doctor's.

'Doctor, it's me, I'm not sure what, but somethings attached to the propellers, there's these two green lights' he said when the doctor picked up.

'Right, stay there, and if MacTire comes near, do not let him anywhere near them, I'm just checking the cabin now' the doctor order.

'Find anything' Craig asked interestedly.

'Not sure, there's some sort of secondary control mechanism attached to the steering wheel' was the reply. Suddenly a door nearby burst open, and Craig hurriedly hung up and shoved the phone back in his pocket. MacTire was stalking across the deck, a scowl over his features, a silvery metal remote control in his hand, a gun pointed at Craig's chest in the other.

'So, you're stooping around are you, trying to find out what's happening on this ship' he snarled, whilst Craig held his hands up in surrender.

'I've no idea what you mean' Craig decided to play dumb, wishing the doctor was here, but he would have to do the best he could for the time being.

'Oh but you do, you see after our conversation, I thought somebody might have rattled me, so I asked around, and the only people asking about me were a man named the Doctor, a Craig Tyler, and a Rose Tyler, so, Doctor, WHAT DO YOU KNOW' he yelled, waving the gun around in rage. Craig jumped back in shock at how he could go from being so calm to so angry in a few seconds, but since he concluded that he was the doctor, he decided to play along for now.

'Only that somebody is trying to change history, altering a fixed point, it's wrong!' he yelled, hoping somebody could hear him, but there was nobody else he could see on deck right now!

'Wrong, how can it be wrong? I know what would happen, he only wants to help' MacTire said softer, calming down slightly, the gun wobbling slightly as he gripped it.

'It's a fixed point, it could ruin the whole of time if its changed' he shouted in reply, maybe, just maybe if he could get through to him, he would help them stop this.

'It would improve time, all my passengers, they could life their lives, as they're meant too' MacTire argues, wiping the small tears forming in his eyes.

'But then why would a complete stranger help, what do you owe to him' he pointed out, knowing the answer that was coming.

'He saved my life, but only with my agreement to help him. It was building this ship, a beam collapsed on my, late one night as I was inspecting the progress of the construction. I was about to die when my Dark Angel appeared and saved me. Now I must help him change history to complete the agreement' he whispered, he hand trembling more than ever. Before he could react, Craig had charged him, kicking and punching at him as MacTire howled in pain, dropping the gun. He lunged for it, falling to the floor, firing at Craig, but the blonde had already fled towards the door.

…

Rose had looked all over the ship but had found no trace of MacTire anywhere. She had given up in the higher class section of the ship, and had begun in the lower class part of the ship. She was following the sounds of a raging party down below, and tentatively walking down the stairs, a small crossed her face as she took in the sights and sounds before her. People were smiling, singing, and dancing around merrily. Beverages were flowing and being shared and children were playing around happily. Everywhere she looked, everyone was having fun, all of them united in their joy, for they thought they were heading for something better. She laughed as she saw Jack dancing to a bubbly song with a young girl with brown curly hair, a broad smile on her face. Rose was clapping with the music at a nearby table, watching them happily. Rose smiled and made her way over to her, sitting in the chair next to her.

'Hello Rosie' she smiled, and startle, Rosie turned to her before smiling.

'Rose! How did it go with Mr MacTire?' she beamed, but it faltered when Rose frowned.

'He's hiding something, he knows what caused that shake this morning, and he planning something' she decided to tell her the truth. If she had a chance of finding MacTire, she needed help!

'But what' Rosie asked intrigued, and Rose just shrugged, after all, she had no idea. Before either of them could say anymore, Jack came over to the pair.

'Hey Rose, Rosie care to dance' he asked, holding out a hand. Rosie just looked at Rose, who smiled and nodded encouragingly, and a few moments later, the pair was on the dance floor, the young girl pouting slight. When Jack noticed he smiled at her.

'You're still my best girl Kora' at this she smiled, and sat in Rosie's vacated seat.

'Hello, I'm Kora' she smiled at Rose.

'Well that's a lovely name, mine's Rose' she replied, offering her hand which Kora shook lightly with her small hand. The girl was really cute, with her big red bow and her matching dress. She had dark eyes, and a wide smile.

'Hello Miss Rose, did you know that America is the island of dreams, that's what my mummy says' she beamed. She was so happy, Rose mentally had to stop herself from bursting into tears.

'Well I think she's right, it's a place where your dreams will come true' she smiled, all the while hoping that Kora would be one of the survivors to get off this ship alive.

'So are you heading for your dreams in America Miss Rose' she asked as she began sipping a coke discarded on the table.

'Oh no, I'm just a traveller, all the way through the stars, that's where I'll go' she laughed as Kora giggled.

'I wish I could go too' she grinned, and once more Rose felt her heart break. She decided to change the conversation slightly.

'Kora, I don't suppose you've seen an importantly looking man call Mr MacTire recently have you?' she asked. She knew it was probably futile, but she had a job to do, and she'd wasted enough time in the party, she needed to find him fast.

'Do you mean the Bad Wolf man? That's what my daddy called him. Big and fat with a funny moustache and top hat' Kora said after a few moments thought.

'Yes, that's him, have you seen him' she asked, hope growing by the second.

'I saw him shouting at a man on deck, wanting to know what he knew' Kora shrugged, and Rose let out a low groan, this did not sound too good.

'What did the man look like?' she asked, already dreading the answer.

'He had golden hair' was the simple reply.

…

The Doctor was running. He had just being searching the office and talking to Craig on the phone, when suddenly the line when dead, and a few moments later he heard the unmistakable sounds of gunshot. Now he was running down the stairs and through the corridors as fast as he could, praying he was going to find the bleeding corpse of one his of best friends lying on the deck. But as he rounded a corner, he crashed into a person, and with a sigh of relief, he hugged said person when he saw it was Craig.

'What happened?' he asked hurriedly, checking him over to make sure he had no injuries.

'MacTire's turned ugly, thought I was you, raged a little bit, cried a bit more, I attacked him, and now he's chasing me' Craig said all in one breath. With a surprized look, the Doctor grabbed his hand and the pair ran, just as MacTire came thundering around the corner, firing after them.

'You can have such a way with people at times!' the Doctor almost laughed as they darted into another corridor, one in the lower class part of the ship. They quickly ducked down behind a potted plant.

'Hey! You're one to talk, what about Cassandra' Craig giggled.

'She was going to spray you with acid too!' the doctor laughed, quickly stifling it as MacTire paused in the corridor, looking around for them, but unable to spot them, he hurried of in the wrong direction, panting loudly.

'Come on' the doctor whispered, taking his hand and leading Craig silently out the other end of the corridor, back onto the deck.

'Did he say anything, what it might be behind this' the doctor asked once he was sure nobody else, and especially not MacTire was around.

'He knew that the Titanic wasn't going to make it to America, he said his Dark Angel wanted to help, to give the people on this ship the chance to live their lives' Craig said after a moment's thought.

'Help itself more like' the doctor scoffed.

'So you think it lied to MacTire then' Craig wondered. The Doctor was about to reply, when suddenly the ship moved out from under them, throwing the both to the ground.

'He's at it again' the doctor yelled to be heard over the screaming of the passengers all over the ship.

'Doctor, the lights on the propellers, if we sonic it will this stop' Craig called back in reply.

'Could do, get stay here' the doctor replied, beginning to crawl towards the end of the ship. The force that was dragging him was so strong it kept pushing him back, before after a few minutes of struggling, he finally clawed his way up the railing, pointing the sonic at the propellers, and after a few second, the propellers stopped going so fast, the ship jerk to a complete stop. But the jerk was so strong it threw the doctor over the railing, out of sight, into the freezing waters below.

'DOCTOR!' Craig screamed as he leapt to his feet, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

**...**

**And there's the third part of The Ship of Dreams. So MacTire wants to change history does he? The Bad Wolf is a Bad Man, hehe : ) I'm not that sure about this chapter, it just feels a little different to the others but I can't put my finger on it : ) And what the hell just happened to the Doctor, OMG, is it the end? To find out, you'll just have to wait and see, which might be a bit longer as it is still being written, but first, please vote and review!**


	16. The Ship of Dreams, Manifesting

**Yay! I'm finally finished with The Ship of Dreams! In this chapter, we finally see who it is causing all this trouble : ) This story feels as though their is a lot of running around, but it seems to have worked well, and fits the sense of the first Doctor Who series well enough, which is great : ) I'm curious as to what people think of Kora. After all, she was a very minor character in Titanic, having I think less than five minutes of screen time, and I only included her in this just to give Rose a sense of tragedy about this adventure, but she might be instrumental in the second 'episode' of this adventure, we'll see! As always I don't own Doctor Who or Titanic, but I do own Craig Tyler, and of course Olca MacTire! Read only, but bare this warning, the Dark Angel is manifesting...**

**...**

**The Ship of Dreams**

**The Ship of Dreams – Manifesting **

Craig raced over to the railing, relieved to see that the Doctor had fallen as he had first thought, but had grabbed a hold of the bottom railing at the last second.

'Hold on!' he yelled, grabbing his hand and pulling as hard as he could. But the Doctor was taller and heavier than him, he couldn't pull him up alone!

'I am, just hurry up!' the Doctor shot back.

'I'm trying to, you know maybe you should think of losing a few pounds' he cried back as he pulled and pulled but to no avail.

'Hey! I am not fat!' he shouted, highly affronted. A voice behind him alerted Craig to the presence of another, and for a moment he was worried that MacTire had found them again, but as the figure dropped to his side, he sighed in relieve as it was only Jack.

'Here you go, I've got you' he cried, grabbing onto the doctor too, and together, they eventually managed to pull the Doctor back onto the deck.

'Thanks' he panted as the three of the slumped down against the railings, breathing heavily.

'Is that… it now then' Craig breathed out.

'Not yet, this angel or whatever it really is won't just give up' the Doctor replied softly.

'What angel?' Jack asked, and with a glance at the Doctor, who nodded lightly, Craig opened his mouth to explain.

'The thing that's causing the ship to move so fast, it's not human in origin' he worded it carefully.

'Then what is it' Jack laughed.

'Something from up there, a different world' Craig said pointing at the sky above. Jack just laughed, but seeing the pointed looks he was getting, he quickly stopped.

'I'm guessing you're not kidding, wow, just…wow' he said.

'You believe us' the Doctor asked incredulously.

'Sure, I believe anything's possible me, so this… creature, why does it want us to get to America so soon' Jack asked in thought, and the Doctor smiled, he _loved_ it when humans asked the right questions.

'Wait a minute Doctor, when time goes wrong, what actually happens' Craig asked. If they thought it through all the way, then maybe things would start to make more sense.

'All sorts of things, and none of them good, but it always leads to chaos' the Doctor answered, puzzled as to where Craig was going with this.

'Chaos… chaos… wait, that voice said it wanted to feed, could it feed on chaos' Craig asked as the pieces clicked together in his mind.

'Oh, oh no! Craig you are a genius but this is not good, this is so not good!' the Doctor jumped up to his feet, his expression portraying his extreme worry.

'Doctor what is it, what's wrong is' Jack asked as he followed him across the deck, which he was briskly racing across.

'I know who's doing this, a creature that lives beyond the universe, it can't take a form here unless it causes enough chaos, by altering timelines to take different route, devastational routes' the doctor said, shivering slightly at the thought of the trouble this would cause. At this point they cross the threshold of the inner corridors again, and were pacing down them, though heading where, Craig had no idea.

'That's… disgusting, he's altering time to save all the people on this ship, just so that he can become part of our world and cause even more chaos to time?' Craig cried in horror, how dare this thing use people's dreams against them like that!

'I know, but we've stopped the propellers for now, now if we can find the point where he's going to appear, we might be able to stop him' the Doctor thought aloud. That was a pretty big might though, but what else was new?

…

The swinging party had soon fallen into chaos. Jack had left earlier saying that he needed some air, and not long later Rose let out a groan as she was thrown to the floor. The ship was at it again, and it continued blasting forwards until a few minutes later it stopped with a very sudden jerk, slamming her into a table corner, bruising her forehead slightly.

'Ouch' she whimpered as she placed a hand on it as she clambered to her feet. Looking around she saw many other passengers had been thrown into tables and chair, had drinks upended over them, and were groaning as they all got back to their feet. Rose was alerted to trouble by a sniffling sound, and looking down, she saw that Kora had been thrown to the ground only to have a chair fall on her. She quickly pushed it off and helped the girl to her feet, bringing her into a hug which she returned gratefully.

'Sssh, It's stopped now, it's alright, are you hurt?' she said soothingly, wiping away the little girl's tears.

'No…No I don…don't think…so' she sniffed.

'Ok, can you see your mummy or daddy anywhere?' she asked as she took her hand in her own. Kora stopped and peered through the crowd for a moment, before her eyes rested on a man in his thirties, wearing a dark brown hat and matching long coat, his glasses dangle off his face. He looked to be a kind enough man.

'There' that's my daddy' she cried happily.

'Then let's make sure you get back safely to him' Rose grinned down at her, leading her across the room and protecting her from getting trampled by the crowd. When Kora's father caught sight of her, he let out a sigh of relief.

'Kora! Thank goodness you're alright, thank you miss for returning her to me' he beamed at Rose taking her hand in gratitude.

'Well, I couldn't very well leave her by herself now could I?' Rose chuckled, waving him off modestly.

'Thank you Miss Rose' Kora smiled up at her. Rose crouched down to look her in the eye.

'You're very welcome Kora, and if you need anything, you come and see me, anytime, alright' she smiled at her. She felt horrible. She knew that the chances of this sweet little girl getting off this ship were incredibly slim, and worse than that, she couldn't even warn her about it! With another thanks, Rose left the room to go find her big brother, discreetly wiping the tears from her eyes. But not as discreetly as she thought, for Rosie noticed, and slipped out of the room behind her, not that Rose knew that.

…

'Doctor, will you please just stop a minute and explain!' Craig shouted as he and Jack raced after him. there was no denying the fact that the Doctor was scared, but the lack of answers was beginning to get on Craig's nerves, because by talking aloud it helps to focus the mind, and that was exactly what the Doctor needed right now.

'Ok, this being, a member of a legendary race called the Pantheon of Discord; it seeks to change time and feed of the energy produced by the destruction of time, and the physical destruction caused to the planet targeted. But it can't manifest yet, it needs something else to feed on first, something on the Titanic' he explained as they came to a stop, just outside the Captain's cabin.

'Right, so what's on the Titanic, or around it, the water, ice, humans' Jack contemplated.

'You're very good at this, but no, it's something energetic, maybe psychic'

'The thoughts of people on the ship' Jack suggested.

'No… it's the dreams, the dreams of everyone on this ship are the same, to get to America' the doctor breathed as he realised.

'And he's using them to manipulate history?' Craig asked in wonder, after all that was pretty amazing even in comparison to everything else he had seen.

'Yeah, so we know why and how he's coming here, right now we need to know where… Jack' you go back to the propellers, see if you can find Rose and Rosie too, he might come out there, Craig, I want you on the Starboard side of the boat… where it gets hit' he added in a whispered.

'That's the right yeah?' he asked unsurely.

'Yeah, that might be the weak point because that's the physical point of the ship that if its changed will change the course of history' he explained quickly.

'So it's likely to be weak point because that caused the Titanic too sink' Craig lowered his voice so that Jack couldn't hear.

'Yep, call me if anything happens, and be careful, MacTire's still out there' he warned. He quick gave the blonde a hug, before he to the door of the cabin.

'What about you Doctor' Jack piped up.

'I'm going to disable the secondary steering in there, stop them from changing the Titanic's course, that'll delay them a bit further' he explained.

'But I still don't understand, you keep saying that's this thing is trying to change history and get us to America, that's implies that Titanic isn't meant to, where else is it taking us' Jack asked confused. Craig felt a tear roll down his cheek, and when the doctor didn't answer, he slowly walked forward, wrapped an arm around Jack, and whisper in his ear.

'I'm so sorry' he said softly, and before Jack could reply, he stalked away. He knew Jack would eventually figure out what he meant, and if they stop this creature, he would definitely know.

Jack threw a questioning, almost sad look at the Doctor, before said Doctor slipped into the cabin, out of sight. Jack let out a low sigh, and went to do his own job.

…

Rose had almost run with tears flowing down her face on the way to the deck before she finally stopped, she was completely unaware that Rosie had followed her. It was just too much, all these people, dead, all of them! She wished that the Doctor had never brought them here, now they had to fix a mess, fix it so that everybody on board would die!

She slumped ungracefully onto a bench, her face in her hands, jumping slightly when she felt a comforting hand place itself on her shoulder. She turned her blotchy face around, and saw Rosie smiling kindly at her.

'What's the matter sweetheart' she asked in a soft voice.

'Nothing, just… it doesn't matter' she replied, sweeping her tears away. She wanted to, she wanted to warn her, just to tell someone, but she knew she couldn't, despite how much she hated herself for it.

'Well, there must be something, you can tell me' she tried to coax, but Rose couldn't back down, she wanted to, but she just couldn't!

'Imagine, you knew something, something terrible that had to happen but hadn't happened yet, well I know something like that, and I can't say a word, not without destroying time in the process' she whispered.

'Then I shall not pry, only often my condolences' she smiled at her, taking her in her arms in a warm hug. they stay in the friendly hug for several minutes, only breaking apart when the voice of Jack Dawson alerted them to his presence.

'Rose, and erm, Rose, the Doctor needs us' he stated quickly, slightly out of breath, he had clearly been running.

'Why, what for?' Rose asked her mind immediately clear. If the Doctor needed help, she would give it, regardless of how bad it made her feel.

'He says something is going to appear on this ship, maybe at the propellers, so he wants us to watch them' he explained.

'What kind of something' Rosie inquired sounding slightly confused.

'Something from another world' was the rather blunt reply.

…

Craig was standing alone on the right side of the deck, the mist still hovering around them. If he strained his eyes far enough, he thought he could see a huge shape of the iceberg in front of the ship. He was shivering, it was cold after all, but suddenly, something else seemed to fill the air, something dark and icy, freezing the air in his very lungs. He tried to move, but some form of fear was holding him in place!

He looked around as best he could, and yelped as a blindingly white crack appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, in the air before him. It wasn't actually _in_ anything, it was just hovering there, it was literally a crack in space.

He didn't even have time to react to this, for from out of the shadow, stood MacTire, once more pointing his gun at his chest, laughing manically.

'You are too late Doctor, for my Dark Angel shall save us all, save the people on board my ship, he is coming' he grinned.

'We'll stop you MacTire, you and your so called Angel' Craig shot back.

'Oh, I think not, for no one can stop… the Trickster!' the voice he had heard from the other side of the wall earlier said, though now it seemed to becoming from the crack in space. Suddenly, it flared it, opening wider and wider until the light faded, and there stood a figure. Craig was in such terror at the sight of it, that he couldn't even scream.

It stood some six feet tall, and had a humanoid form. But its face was nothing like a human could ever be! It had sharp teeth, but other than that no features. No nose and its eyes were mere hollows with skin stretched over them, and was a darker, more orange, flesh tone than normal. Its body was hidden by a long black hooded robe, its long fingers concealed by black gloves. In fact, the terrible face was the only part of him you could see, and even that seemed to hover inside the hood. It truly was, without a doubt, the worst thing Craig Tyler had ever seen, and he was afraid that things were only going to get that little bit worse.

'I shall feed, Craig Tyler, I shall feed... on you!' it laughed manically, whilst Craig gulped. Yeah, it just got worse!

**...**

**WOOHOO! There's the last part of The Ship of Dreams. I have really loved writing these last four chapters, and I can't wait until everyone sees how this adventure ends : ) So Rose is very kind to Kora, and that will be important later on, in a very sad way too, but I'm afraid it has to happen, but no spoilers! It kinda seems out of character to me, because despite Jamie in The Empty Child, I can't really see Rose as being a lover of children, right little terrors she called them! So this is a little different character trait in this story I guess. So, please review this adventure so far, because this time I'm even more interested in what you have to say about it, and my poll is still ongoing, so check that out as well : ) The next 'episode' is called Shattered Dreams, but I haven't even started yet, so it could take a while, but never fear, for the story shall always go on!**


	17. Shattered Dreams, Fixing the Future

**Hey everyone! Sorry this chapter is so late, but this week has been a little manic, with later shifts at work, and I've had a bit of writer's block, so I decided to leave this adventure for a couple of days, and I actually went onto start the writing of a different adventure which will come up later, because I think leaving something in a story helps you focus on other parts, and then you can be better when you get back to it : ) But since it's been a couple of days, I thought I'd post the first part of Shatter Dreams, the second part of The Ship of Dreams. As always, Doctor Who does not belong to me, neither does Titanic, all I own so far is Craig Tyler and Olca MacTire. Enjoy : )**

**...**

**Shattered Dreams**

**Shattered Dreams – Fixing the Future**

Craig stood rooted to the spot as The Trickster and MacTire laughed, gloating at his fear, but he had to move, had to get away. He took a step back, and was about to run, when the Trickster suddenly appeared behind him.

'Oh, you're going nowhere, Craig Tyler' he cackled, roughly grabbing Craig by the shoulder. He went to move away from him, but at the click of MacTire's gun, he thought better of it. This time he was really stuck, with no way out. And then from nowhere, he heart leaped as the Doctor was running towards them. He let out a small sigh of relieve.

'Let him go now!' he roared. The Trickster turned, and MacTire trained his gun at him instead. Instantly, Craig briskly walked to his friend's side, who quickly gave him a one armed hug before glaring at the Trickster.

'The Last Time Lord' the Trickster breathed.

'The Leader of the Pantheon of Discord' the Doctor stated calmly, which Craig found impressive given the Trickster's appearance.

'Well, I always thought you lot were just a legend told on Gallifrey to scare Time Tots into not interfering' the Doctor sighed, throwing Craig a warning look as he giggled at the name Time Tots, but it was just so funny!

'And I've felt this moment rippling back across the ages, the meeting of the leader of the pantheon and the destroyer of his own kind' the Trickster sneered. The Doctor face darkened, and Craig quickly put his hand over his friend's, reassuring him that it wasn't his fault, and that it never would be.

'What do you want?' the Doctor demanded harshly.

'I want… to feed, you know the stories, I can only exist with the chaos I can cause' the Trickster hissed.

'I won't let you do this' the Doctor said warningly.

'You don't have much of a choice' the Trickster laughed, and the Doctor growled. An angry expression on his face, he leant doctor slightly to Craig's ear.

'Get ready to run' he murmured, and with the slightest nod possible, Craig prepared himself.

'So, what's the plan then' the Doctor asked bravely.

'Oh, all I'm going to do is ensure that this ship gets to its destination' he chuckled in response.

'And change the whole of history as well' the Doctor spat. His hand slipped into his pocket, his other into Craig's.

'That is, a necessary sacrifice' MacTire piped up.

'Is it, really?' the Doctor asked him softly, looking deeply into him. MacTire looked uneasy, but stayed at his position by the Trickster's side.

'You see, even he agrees' the Trickster sneered.

'Because that's what you need, somebodies' agreement' the Doctor stated softly. Before the Trickster could reply, the Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver, and aiming it at the gun, made it spark slightly. The sudden movement surprized the Trickster for a few seconds, long enough for the Doctor and Craig to run, run faster than ever before. The Trickster howled in fury.

…

Rose was leaning against the railing right at the back of the ship. A short distance away, Jack and Rosie were talking quietly. They kept flashing tentative smiles at each other, and a great grin took over Rose's face, she was a sap for when people fell in love, even if they themselves didn't know it.

She herself was waiting silently, her thoughts turning over at what was to come, what was supposed to come. She snapped out of her reverie at the sound of hurried footsteps, and a moment later, the Doctor and Craig were panting for air as they skidded to a stop in front of her.

'He…he's… he…here' Craig managed to get out, and Rose's eyes widened.

'Who is, who's here' she asked worriedly.

'The Trickster, a creature that can't exist in our universe without causing chaos, the more he causes the stronger he gets' the Doctor quickly explained.

'What, and he's messing around with the Titanic' Rose asked, just as Jack and Rosie caught sight of them and came over.

'Exactly, and we need to stop him' the Doctor said, trying to think of a possible way in which to do this, but right now, he had none.

'If we changed time back to how it was, what that stop him' Craig asked quietly. He really wanted another way, but was driving a ship into an iceberg and killing over a thousand people a better option than letting them live and letting the Trickster roam free?

'It would cause the Trickster to be sent back outside of reality, yeah, it would work' he replied after a few seconds.

'I'm sorry, what you're saying is that to stop this creature, we need to pilot the Titanic into an iceberg, won't that destroy it' Rosie asked confused. The Doctor cast a saddened but hard look at her, and she gasped in horror.

'You told me you were sorry, you knew' Jack said looking at Craig, it wasn't a question.

'I'm so sorry, so sorry' Craig said regretfully, he truly was sorry, but he knew what it came down to was one ship, or one planet and possible more, he knew what the better choice was, even if it was harder.

'That's why you're cloths weren't of this world, why your hair is unnaturally gold, you are not of this time' Jack realised, and Rosie gasped once more, after all this must be pretty hard for them to take in.

'Is it true, Miss Rose' a voice asked sadly, and with a surprized yelp, Rose looked down to see Kora.

'Kora? What are you doing here?' Jack asked puzzled.

'I wanted to talk to Miss Rose again' was the young child's reply.

'What about sweety' Rose asked, crouching down to the little girls level.

'I saw that man again, the Wolf man, with a big shadow' she squeaked, sounding scared.

'Sorry, but what was your name' the Doctor interrupted.

'Kora sir, my name is Kora' was her answer.

'Kora, this is very important, can you tell me where you saw them last' he pressed on, firmly but gently. Kora never got a chance to open her mouth, because at that moment, a cold voice rang out.

'I would believe that to be, well…now' the Trickster sneered, and whipping around, Rose, Rosie, and Kora all screamed, and Jack jumped back in shock with a yelp, all because of the Trickster's terrifying appearance. Even though Craig knew what he looked like, he still shivered with fear.

MacTire was by his side, but he looked as nervous as they did.

'So what now' the Doctor asked bravely, but Craig could tell even he was afraid.

'Now, Olca MacTire will get us to America, and the rein of the Trickster shall begin' the Trickster laughed harshly, whilst Kora whimpered in terror. Rose grabbed hold of her hand to try and reassure the poor girl, even though she was scared out of her wits too.

'I…I'm still…not…sure' MacTire whispered, and the Trickster hissed.

'You are so weak, you _shall_ make this ship get to America' he snarled, and MacTire flinched. Maybe he wasn't a bad man, Craig thought, even if his name did mean Bad Wolf, just desperate, he just didn't want to die, and like Cassandra, like the Gelth, he was willing to do anything to prevent it.

'Please don't' Kora suddenly spoke up, and all eyes turned to her. MacTire started getting some small tears in his eyes. Craig knew in that moment, he would give up his place by the Trickster's side. Apparently the Trickster sensed this too, for his soon snarled at Kora.

'Shut up brat, I shall not return to that void' he bared his fangs and she flinched slightly. He cackled and began stalking towards her, whilst Rose stepped protectively in front of her.

'Stop, please, just stop' MacTire cried. He didn't what anybody to get hurt, he just wasn't ready to die, but he knew deep down that Kora's chance at a life meant more than his.

'Or what' the Trickster taunted 'I shall do what I please, with all of you'

'Not if his withdraws is agreement' The Doctor commented coldly.

'What?' Rose asked in confusion.

'The Trickster needs agreement, the consent of someone about to die' Craig realised.

'Please Mr Wolf man, please stop him' Kora practically begged as tears began rolling down her face.

'He doesn't have the strength' the Trickster tried to bluff, and Kora's tears intensified. And that was what did it, for suddenly MacTire got a very determined look on his face, and he stood bravely before the causer of all this.

'You're right, alone I would not have the strength, but if there is one thing I cannot bear, it is to see a child crying. You never told me what your plan was when you saved me, but I was in your debt so I went along with it, but no more, because if Kora is brave enough to face death, than so am I, and so I withdraw my agreement!' he bellowed. The Trickster shrieked as MacTire literally burst into a ball of white light, everyone scrunched up their eyes in pain, and when the light died down, the Trickster had vanished, as had MacTire.

'He's gone' Rosie stated in shock.

'He wasn't bad in the end, even if it was his name' Jack sighed slightly.

'He saved us' Kora realised, before giggling somewhat in her happiness and relief.

'Olca MacTire, not so much of a Bad Wolf eh?' Rose grinned, but the Doctor still had a solemn look on his face.

'I could have found another way' he murmured.

'No you couldn't, you know the Trickster was what kept him alive, break the deal, he would have died' Craig stated. How he know that was beyond him, but he just knew, deep down, the Trickster would have betrayed him if necessary. A dark look suddenly overcame his face.

'What is it, you should be happy Craig' Jack commented.

'Yeah, except listen to that sound' he whispered, and all of them fell silent.

'ICEBERG, ICEBERG' a voice in the distance was yelling, but too late, for a few seconds later, the entire ship shook, as the Titanic began to meet its fate.

**...**

**And there we go! The future is back in place, the Trickster and MacTire are gone, my first Own Character to meet his fate! And Kora helped save the world simply by being a kind hearted child, all in my shortest chapter yet : ) I wanted to make it a little longer, but to be honest, I've still got some writer's block on this adventure, and I wanted to get the Trickster out of the way early on, because now there's another problem, actually getting off the Titanic : ) Please continue reading and reviewing, and I'll try to get the next chapter up soon.**


	18. Shattered Dreams, Sinking

**Hey readers! Here's part two of Shattered Dreams, another short one, still long, but shorter than the others. I don't really know what's wrong with me at the minute, I can't seem to get my chapters to go how I want, but I think this is ok. So in this chapter we see Craig against the Doctor, since in The Unquiet Dead he agreed with him, I thought this time he could disagree : ) I still do not own Doctor Who or Titanic, but I do own Craig Tyler!**

**...**

**Shattered Dreams – Sinking**

The six of them instantly ran over to the right side, Rose holding onto Kora to make sure she didn't fall, leaning over the railings to see the side of the magnificent ship. Popping up between the waves was a large crevasse like crack running along the side, and water was beginning to pour in. they had done it, history was back in place and the Titanic would sink.

'Doctor, we have to go' Rose suddenly broke the silence, fear in her voice.

'Right, Jack, Rosie, Kora, a pleasure, always, but right now I need to get Rose and Craig away, so see ya later' the Doctor said quickly, grabbing Rose's hand and beginning to run, whilst the three of them gapped after him.

'Kora! I'm sorry' Rose called back. Craig looked furious as he chased him around a corner.

'Oi! There is no way we are going to just abandon them' he yelled, and the Doctor halted in his tracks.

'We can't take them with us, history says everyone on this ship dies' he said regrettably.

'That girl, Kora, she helped save the world, she's what? All of seven, and you're going to just leave her' he argued.

'Oh, so when Rose wants to respect the dead that's bad, but when you think we should save somebody who by your time is already dead, that's alright' the Doctor snapped. Craig glared at him.

'That was to save a species, and if I remember right, you agreed with me. We can't just leave them!' he yelled. People suddenly started flocking onto the deck, screaming whilst the members of the crew tried to restore calm.

The doctor grabbed hold of Craig's sleeve and tried to force him to move, but he wouldn't budge. He could be so stubborn!

'Craig, please we need to get out of here' Rose pleaded. She wanted to save Jack and Rosie and Kora too, but she understood a little better now that people had their time, and died, and this was time up for many people, too many.

'Well you can just leave me here there' he huffed, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. The Doctor sighed in exasperation.

'Even if I could, how do you suggest I save them' he asked, thinking he had made a good point.

'Oh I don't know, maybe there's enough room in the Tardis' Craig shot back.

'He has a point, we could just drop them off in America, and nobody would have to know' Rose put in, pausing to think about it.

'And what, we take their friends, Rosie's and Kora's families with us, maybe some of the crew' the Doctor said sarcastically.

'No, I think the three of them would be enough' Craig snapped, coldness in his voice. He could not believe that the Doctor was acting like this, that their lives meant nothing.

'Why are you so…human' the Doctor asked in annoyance.

'Because that's what I am, why are you being so alien, what, the three of them don't matter to you, is that it?' he shouted back. Had the people around them not being so panicked, he would probably be attracting quite a lot of attention.

'That's not it at all Craig' the Doctor cried in horror, he really didn't want the people who were fast becoming the best friends he had ever had to think of him in that way.

'What is it then' he demanded, softening his tone slightly, but still holding it firm.

'It's not easy being here, as a Time Lord I'm extra sensitive to fixed points in time, when the Trickster started messing with it, it got even worse. It's like a twisted, scrunched up feeling in the pit of my stomach, something trying to get out. By taking Jack and Rosie and Kora out of here, it will only make that feeling feel worse, lives being lived which were not meant to be' he explained sadly, a tear at the corner of his eye.

Craig was about to say something else, when a melody began playing, a mournful tune played on violins. They three of them paused to actually look around properly. Around them, people were pushing their way into life boats, mainly the rich. Women and Children were being placed over the men, and the crew were now threatening to shoot anyone who tried to push their way to the front. They gasped when a shipman who had accidently shot a man who was pushed take his gun to his head, pulled the trigger, and fell into the water below, staining a small patch of it a deep red.

The ship itself was beginning to fall, and there seemed to be a large crunching noise. The entire structure was beginning to split down the middle!

'Come on, Tardis, we are getting out of here' the Doctor ordered after a few seconds of stunned shock. But then Craig saw something which made his heart plummet. A small blue box, falling through the crack, into the water below.

'Doctor' he started, his voice soft.

'Craig, I am sorry, I really am, but history says they died here' the Doctor started again, frowning when Craig shook his head.

'What is it' Rose asked quietly.

'We just lost our way out' he whispered, shakily pointing at the blue box bobbing up and down in the water. The Doctor and Rose both looked in horror as it was swept out further away from the ship.

'Oh…' the Doctor said solemnly. He had trapped them, trapped them all on a ship where they would now because of him likely die. No, he would not let that happened, he would find some way out, for Rose and Craig, but for now he needed to get them to the safest part of the ship, the Stern.

'Come on, I'll get you out of this, I promise. But right now I need to focus on you and your sister, I'll try to get Jack, Rosie, and Kora out if I can, deal' he said, trying to persuade Craig more than Rose right now.

'Deal' he said after a few seconds of silence, and a moment later, the three of them were running again, running before time ran ahead of the them.

…

Getting to the Stern was harder than the Doctor had first thought, since it was now almost vertical, bobbing up and down in the water. It seemed that since that was the highest part of the ship out of the water, most of the other people had had the same idea, many were not so lucky. The water was so full of rubble and people flailing around in the freezing ocean, screaming at the top of their voices. Suddenly it got extremely dark, as all the power on the ship went out. The funnels were falling into the water, creating an almighty wave of water which carried people away from the ship. In the distance, several small life boats were floating around, some moving away, some dragging people in from the water.

The doctor lead them through all the people, forcing his way to the railing. First he helped Rose onto the other side, where she tightly clung on. Then he grabbed onto Craig and pulled him and himself over too, they were all clinging onto the end of the Titanic, that was just so crazy, was the thought going through Craig's head. His head snapped around at the sound of his name, and with a start, he realised they were right next to Jack and Rosie, who still had Kora with them, but they were still of the other side.

'Come one, get over' he cried, holding out a hand to hand Rosie over. Rose helped and soon the other woman was on the same side as them. Rose gripped tightly onto Kora, pulling her over too. Soon Jack was on their side too.

As the screams got louder, as people slipped away, falling the long drop into the water, the ship finally broke in two, and the side dived down ways again, causing even louder screams.

'Doctor, this is it this time, isn't it' Rose asked quietly. Tears were rolling down her face softly, thoughts of her mum and Mickey going through her head, they would never know what happened to her and Craig, and that terrified her more than anything else she had seen so far.

'I'm sorry' was the solemn reply.

'Not your fault, I told you, we wanted to come' Craig put in.

'He's right, it never will be your fault' Rose added with a slightly smile. The other half of the ship had faded into the water now, but through its partial connections it was dragging the part they were on into the water too.

'Right, when we hit the water, the suction will pull us under, when that happens, hold onto each other as tight as you can' Jack spoke up, grabbing onto Rosie with one hand, Craig with the other. Soon the Doctor had grabbed Craig's other hand, and Rose's, whilst Kora held onto her other hand. They were almost there, they were the last people on the Titanic now, the water was climbing up towards them.

'It's going to be alright, we're going to make it, you'll see' Jack said with false confidence, but true bravery. The railings were almost under now.

'Breath in as long as you can' the Doctor order. It was within touching distance. They all sucked in as much air as they could as one, as the icy water engulfed them all.

**...**

**And so the Titanic sinks with them onboard, Oh No! But as I got rid of the Trickster pretty early, this story was always going to be about them falling into the water : ) And I know that the actually Titanic took ages to finally sink, but I couldn't fit it all into on story, or I'd have about twelve chapter for this one adventure, and my limit is four! So I tried to squeeze it all into one. Please read and especially review, and if you haven't voted, get to it soon : )**


	19. Shattered Dreams, Into the Cold

**Hey people! Here's part three, Into the Cold, where we see if The Doctor, Rose, and Craig can escape their certain doom! Who survives, and who doesn't? To find out, read, and then of course review : ) I like this chapter the most out of Shattered Dreams, not only because it is the longest, but because it's quite The Doctor and Rose light, which I think allows Craig to shine through a bit more as a character. I'd love to know what you think of him so far, since I own him, but not the Titanic or Doctor Who, enjoy!**

**...**

**Shattered Dreams – Into the Cold**

The group were being dragged further and further down, spinning and twirling through the water as the currents kept trying to tear them apart, but they all hold on. They began to feel dizzy as their air was still cut off, trying their hardest not to scream as the icy water felt like daggers into the flesh. Then suddenly the pull lessened, but it caused a sudden shift in the currents, and Craig lost his grip on the doctor's hand. He, Jack and Rosie were flung to the left, whilst the Doctor, Rose, and Kora all drifted to the right. Soon they all hit the surface.

'DOCTOR, ROSE, DOCTOR' Craig yelled, but due to the screaming, it would have been impossible to be heard.

'DOCTOR' he yelled again.

'Craig, come on, we need to get onto something' Jack whispered urgently, pulling his in the direct he and Rosie were swimming. He swam with them, but kept screaming out for his friend and sister to find him.

…

'CRAIG' Rose screamed, choking slightly as she struggled to keep her head over the water. She was holding onto the Doctor and Kora with everything she had, but the waves were too strong, and a moment later her hand was wretched from Kora's.

'No, KORA, COME BACK! She screamed as Kora's cries got further and further away. Rose tried to go after her, as did the Doctor, but the waves kept pushing them further and further away, though closer to the direct Craig had floated away in. The Doctor's face grew dark with misery, the waves were too strong for them to go after Kora in, they had no way to save her, she was lost to the world.

'We can't get to her' he whispered in her ear. She let out a choked sob, still trying to move in that direction, but after being pushed back again, she felt herself give a short nod, as tears began rolling down her face.

'I want Craig' she whispered, her teeth beginning to chatter slightly. It really was freezing, and as they began to push their way towards where Craig had disappeared in, their movements were becoming slower and harder to control. They snuggled closer together to try and keep warm, whilst around them, silence began to fall, as the people in the water began to freeze, began to die.

…

Craig had directed the others to a large wooden door which had but ripped from its frame, and helped Rosie onto it. But when he and Jack tried, it nearly toppled over, so the two men held onto, floating alongside it in the water. Jack had his chin resting on it, Craig had lain the side of his face onto it. He let out a slightly chuckle as he realised what his head looked like as it fell across his face, it was turning into icicles, his skin turning white, his lips and fingertips going a faint blue. His eyes were closing slightly, the cold was getting too much, but when he thought he heard his name, they snapped open, and he let out a sigh of relief, seeing it turn to condensation in the cold air. Through the water, slowly but surely, making their way towards them were The Doctor and Rose. Behind his relief to see them, he wondered at the back of his mind where Kora was, but the freezing tears on Rose's face were enough to answer that.

As they drew level, he stiffly raised an arm, and wrapped it around the Doctor and Rose in turn, but she soon give in to the coldness and passed out, Rosie shortly joining her in blissful sleep. Craig, the Doctor, and Jack lifted Rose onto the door too. It dipped down slightly, but due to her light weight, it didn't topple as it had for the others. The Doctor drifted over to Craig's side, wrapping an arm around him to try and keep him warm.

'Doctor' he croaked, his throat becoming horse from the coldness.

'Craig, I'm so sorry, that's nothing, no way out this time' he whispered, before his eyes fell shut to, and he hung there, hugging Craig, asleep in the water. Craig shifted his weight slightly, holding onto the doctor with one arm, pressing the Doctor's into his stomach until it froze in position with ice surround it, and held onto the door with the other. He needed to make sure the doctor didn't slip off him and fall. He was still breathing, but it was starting to slow.

'Craig, did you know, that everybody dies here today' Jack whispered, his voice also croaking as he rubbed his arms, trying to keep warm, and giving himself something to do.

'I'm sorry Jack, yes, I knew that the Titanic would hit the iceberg, that most of the passengers would fall into the water, that they would die' Craig was so cold and tired he couldn't be bothered to keep hiding it. He opted for the truth as he waited for the end.

'Then why did you…stop the Trickster' he breathed out, his voice fading slightly.

'Because it was the right thing to do, the Trickster was going to change history, and destroy the future by doing so. Imagine, everyone on this ship gets to America, they have children, and they have children, they people who now will never be born. America's economy grows and grows, it becomes more powerful. You see how history changes, and all because this ship got there before this happened' he explained slowly, his voice box hurting like crazy now.

'History, that's all we are, but the way you talk, it's like you know' he stated.

'I do, the way I talk, my naturally gold hair, but knowledge of other worlds, the cloths I wore when you first saw me' he listed off the things which made him seem strange, and Craig realised as he spoke, he was becoming less and less ordinary as the days went by, he was changing from an ordinary human. He smiled slightly at the thought.

'Who you are, Craig Tyler?' Jack whispered.

'A man out of his time' was the short reply.

'Well, so am I' Jack replied, thinking he meant his time was up. Craig shook his head ever so slightly, which was difficult considering his face was lying on the door frame again, and was beginning to freeze to it.

'I mean literally, 1912, it's not the time I'm from, I'm from the year 2005, me and Rose. I don't know when the Doctor's from. I don't even know his name. all I know is that he's from another planet, a planet that's gone. He's a stranger, and since I followed him I've brought us to our deaths' he gasped, his eyes wide. It wasn't the Doctor's fault, he stood by him, but death and doom seemed to follow the Doctor. He thought it was fun, risking your life to do with was right, but it wasn't, it was hard.

'2005, so you knew that Titanic would sink, why get on board' Jack asked in confusion.

'The Doctor brought us here, in his ship, a machine that can travel through time and space' he whispered.

'Tell me about them Craig, before I die, tell me what else is out there' Jack asked, looking up at the stars above.

'Oh Jack, the things I've seen. Aliens in the year 5000,000,000. A woman like a tree called Jabe, a giant face in a tank that told me that in my future I would meet him, now I won't get the chance. A sheet of skin calling herself the last pure human. She tried to kill us all but we stopped her. And then we went to the past, met Charles Dickens and a girl named Gwyneth. She saved the world because these creatures called the Gelth were trying to get here and take over the world, but she found out how to stop them. And then we came here, and I met a brave man named Jack Dawson' he finished, and the pair fell quiet, listening as the last screams faded. They were all alone. The two of them were the only ones awake, waiting for death to take them. Others might still be asleep, but something told Craig they weren't.

'It's got so quiet' he commented.

'Oh Craig, I'm glad I met you before this happened' Jack admitted, moving over a placing a light kiss on his forehead. It wasn't romantic or anything. Craig really liked Jack, but he also could see the way he looked at Rosie, and he knew men well enough to interpret a kiss correctly. That was one of friendship and gratitude.

'Meet too' he felt his face morph into a grin as he said it, before he noticed something bobbing up and down in the distance slightly. It was surrounded by ice, and was slightly obscured by a small figure on top of it, but floating their way, he was sure, was a large blue police box. He let out a small laugh in relief.

'What's funny' Jack asked confused. Craig nodded slightly in the direct of the Tardis.

'Jack, I've just found our way out of this, see that blue box over there' he said, and Jack nodded, not seeing where this was going.

'That's the Doctor's ship, the Tardis, it can get us away from here, come on' he tried shifting the door, pushing his protesting legs, Jack started to help him. it took a while, the currents they made kept making the Tardis drift away a bit, but finally they drew level with it.

'Climb up onto it' Craig commanded, and after falling down a few times, Jack finally managed to pull himself up onto it. When he looked at the tiny figure, his heart plunged, as did Craig. Frozen solid, her eyes wide and glassy, was the form of Kora, cold, and dead.

'Oh Kora, I'm sorry' Jack whispered, lifting her up slightly, and with regret, placed her with as much respect as possible into the water. The two men silently watched she drift on the surface for a few seconds, before she fell down, and faded out of sight, the Titanic would now be her resting place.

'She was so young, it's so unfair, I'll never forget her' Jack promised himself quietly.

'Neither will I Jack, neither will I' Craig added quietly. He would make sure he never forgot her, and he knew Rose wouldn't either. He dreaded the moment when he told her, it would surely reduce her to tears, but he wouldn't hide this either, he couldn't do that to his baby sister!

'Come on, there's nothing we can do for her now, here, take the Doctor' he said, moving to the edge of the Tardis and pushing the Doctor up. He was nearly dragged up too, since he and the Doctor were frozen together, but after a few seconds of a loud crunching noise, the ice broke and they separated. Jack pulled the sleeping Doctor up onto the Tardis, and Craig jumped up after him.

'Look around his neck for the key' Craig told him, and seconds later, Jack produced a silvery key. A second later he shifted the Doctor and slipped the key into the door's lock, pushing it down it open it. It looked so strange, the Doctor was lying on the door which fell inward. He tumbled for a moment, before the direction of gravity seemed to change, and he fell onto the grated floor. He was so fast asleep that he didn't even wake up.

'Oh, I didn't realise that would happen' Craig commented as he pulled Rose off of the door and tried to gently slip her into the Tardis too. She still fell, but it was slightly less worse than the doctor's. Jack had by now pulled Rosie up too, and hopped down with her in his arm, landing with her sprawled across him.

Craig was about to jump in too, when he caught sight of the door. He hadn't noticed before, but he could have sworn the grains on the wood rippled and warped into the form of words. Just two words, BAD WOLF. He pushed it from his mind, the cold must be getting to him, as he jumped into the Tardis too, curving his legs as he fell, managing to land on his feet, wobbling albeit.

'It's bigger, it's bigger on the inside' Jack gasped is disbelieve, before his cold temperature and his drowsiness final got the better of him, and he passed out too. Craig quietly slipped the doors shut, and was going to go find some blankets, but he barely moved five steps before he too fell to the ground, breathing softly as his mind slipped into a much needed sleep.

**...**

**And that seems like a good place to stop. One more chapter to go and then that's my Titanic story finished. I've really enjoyed writing this, and I have a couple of ideas for some more, but if there's anything you'd like to see, a planet, species or place you have an idea for you'd like me to write about, just leave your suggestion in a review and I'll do my best. The next chapter is called 'Carrying On' and we see what happens to Jack and Rosie, and how Rose reacts to the news about Kora. Sorry but since Gwyneth was saved, who's death hit Rose hard and made her realise her adventures were dangerous, I had to come up with another way to do this, so I'm sorry but Kora couldn't be saved : ( I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, and please read the next one when it's posted!**


	20. Shattered Dreams, Carrying On

**I am proud to say that this chapter sees the end of Shattered Dreams, and the end of my first Own Adventure. In a way I'm kind of sad it's over, I've loved writing these two 'episodes' but when it's done, it's done. This chapter is really just rounding everything off, but I like it, it's so sweet. I do not own Doctor who, or Titanic, but I do own Craig Tyler : )**

**...**

**Shattered Dreams – Carrying On**

When Craig woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he was lying on in his bed in the Tardis, and that he was dry and had being changed into a pair of track suit bottoms and a large blue hoodie to keep him warm. He stood up, and found a pair of fluffy blue slippers, which when he slipped onto his feet, found to be so warm he almost groaned in pleasure. He was still freezing cold, but as he wander back into the control room, he found only the Doctor, standing by the controls and beaming brightly went he stood next to him.

'Oh Craig Tyler, how did you do it, how'd you save us this time' he grinned as he wrapped him in a huge hug, spinning him around as they both laughed.

'Well, I was just talking to Jack and I saw the Tardis floating up, so she saved us, thanks by the way' Craig said, rubbing the glass column fondly. The Tardis hummed appreciatively.

'Its strange, most people see the Tardis as a machine, but you talk about her as she is, a being' the Doctor commented.

'When she is isn't she, and if men can talk to car like their alive, why shouldn't I talk to a sentient ship that actually is alive' Craig shrugged. He then noticed that Jack and Rosie was still lying on the ground, but on big cushions and were covered in blankets.

'I thought it best to keep them in here, the Tardis would change its corridors since she doesn't know them and it could have taken weeks for them to get to the control room' the Doctor answered Craig's unasked question.

'And Rose' he asked, hoping she too was alive and well. He was pretty sure the Doctor would have said immediately, but he needed to see her to be sure she was ok!

'A bit cold, but I changed her into something warmer, and you, but I didn't look, I swear' he hastily added when he remembered how Craig had thumped Mr Sneed one in 1869. Craig gave a slight nod, just as Jack began to stir. In an instant Craig was on his knees by his friend's side.

'Jack, Jack are you alright?' he asked concernedly. He took Jack's hand and carefully pulled him to his feet.

'I, err, we are we?' he asked looking around, before his eyes widened in shock.

'I remember, we went into the blue box, but it was tiny, it's massive in here!' he exclaimed.

'Yes it is; the Tardis, Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, she's my ship, and it's thanks to her that we're still alive' the Doctor put in. He could feel a little distortion in time around Jack and Rosie, but it wasn't as bad as he had expected. It was almost like history needed them to survive, like they would have found another way and he had just changed the details. Maybe they might have gotten to a lifeboat in time if they hadn't met them. He didn't know, but he shrugged off the feeling, watching in amusement as Jack took in the sight around him.

'So Jack, where do you want to be dropped off' he asked, ignoring the look Craig was giving him, a look asking if they could stay with them, but there was no way! Two companions he could look after, but four, that was a bit too much.

'Well, we were heading for America anyway, why not drop us off there' Jack grinned, and with a smile, the Doctor set to work.

'I'd hold on if I were you, I don't think he passed his test' Craig grinned teasingly at the Doctor, who pouted but carried on, and a few moments later, the Tardis landed with a bump. Jack picked up Rosie into his arms as Craig went over to the door, pushing them open.

Craig looked up, laughing loudly when he saw they had landed right at the bottom of a giant green statue, the Statue of Liberty. he looked across at New York, disappointed to see no Empire of State building, it can't have been built yet.

'I can't believe it' he giggled as the Doctor let out a laugh too.

'The Statue of Liberty' Jack exclaimed happily, before his face became sad.

'What's up' Craig asked, his concern back in a beat.

'My friend, Fabrizio, he said 'I can see the Statue of Liberty already', he'll be dead now' he realised sadly. Craig put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

'Still, thank you, Craig Tyler, it was awful and terrible, but amazing' he smiled warmly at Craig who happily returned the expression. The Doctor smiled at him, and went into the Tardis to allow Craig to say goodbye to his new friend in private.

'What will you do now?' he asked Jack.

'Oh, I've got this one to take care of, I'll keep her safe for the rest of her life' he smiled fondly down at the red haired girl in his arms.

'But you have nothing in America do you, how will you manage' Craig asking in confusion.

'I'll find away, like you found a way to get us here' Jack shrugged. Craig moved forward and kissed his cheek.

'Look out for me Jack Dawson, I've got a feeling I'll see you again' he grinned. He knew he would, because he had a plan in mind.

'When will that be' Jack grinned, but he was also confused.

'Oh just keep an eye out, I'll be there one day' and with that Craig slipped back into the Tardis.

…

'Right then, were to now' the Doctor immediately asked.

'I want to see how their lives go a few years in the future, so take us to wherever they'll be just after world war one' Craig stated. Immediately, the Doctor began using the scanner, and after a few minutes of silence, he jumped up.

'Bingo! Found them Jack and Rosemary Dawson, 1923, the outskirts of New York. They live in a little country house now, taking us there…NOW' he beamed, and with another whoosh, the Tardis took them to their new destination.

Once again Craig slipped out the doors, alone, and looked out to see a large grassy field, cows and sheep grazing quietly. In front of him with a little stone cottage, two stories, with a thatched straw roof. It looked like a perfect fairy tale cottage; it even had a swing, roses around the door, and a white picket fence.

Craig quickly did the maths in his head, it was 1923, that made it eleven years since Jack had last seen him. He and Rosie would be in their early thirties by now. And then he saw them, Jack, still as hansom as ever, Rosie, still looking almost exactly the same, a beautiful young woman. Jack was wearing an outfit similar to the one he had on the Titanic, simple yet kind of classical, whilst Rosie was wearing a bright blue dress, a white petty coat over the top. They were swing a little girl of about six between them, a girl with Jack's bright blue eyes and smile, with Rosie's red curling hair and short nose. She was such a pretty little girl, he was so pleased for them. Jack suddenly looked over at him, and his jaw dropped, his eyes widened. He silently nudged Rosie's who saw him also, and copied Jack's stunned reaction.

They pair were soon running across the field, their daughter racing after them, and the three of them skidded to a stop in front of a rather amused blonde.

'It's you, you really came back' Jack grinned at him. His eyes still held their warmth, but had a few little wrinkles around them.

'You haven't aged at all' Rosie beamed at him.

'Are you Craig Tyler?' the little girl spoke up.

'That's me, but unfortunately, I haven't got a clue who you are?' he smiled down at her.

'Our daughter, Kora Rose Dawson' Jack smiled proudly.

'Oh Jack, of course you'd name your daughter Kora' Craig smiled.

'Mummy and Daddy told me about you sir, thank you for saving them' Kora II smiled up at him.

'Your very welcome' he grinned.

'Alright Kora, can you please give us a moment alone' Rosie whispered, and nodding, Kora went running into the cottage, waving back at them all before she slipped inside.

'So, you haven't aged a single day' Jack remarked.

'Observant as ever Jack, it's only been a few minutes for me. I came straight here after we left you in 1912' he explained.

'Amazing, you can travel here in a few moments, whilst I and Jack take eleven years' Rosie whispered in astonishment.

'I did tell you I'd be here one day, so what happened to you two' Craig asked.

'Oh, It's kind of a fairy tale ending really. You see my old fiancé Cal had put his coat on me, but he didn't realise that he had left an engagement present in the pocket. It held to many memories, so I sold it, bought this little place and gave the rest to an orphanage. We're a farming couple now' Rosie explained.

'Oh, you two are so sweet, and you daughter's beautiful' he grinned happily. He was hoping they'd get a happy ending and it seemed as though he got his wish.

'And it's all thanks to you that she was born' Jack beamed.

'So, what are you going to do now?' Rosie asked.

'Well, we escaped the Titanic, it's so dangerous I know, but I can never go back to living a normal life in my home in 2005, I'll travel on with the doctor, I'm not sure about Rose, I haven't actually seen her yet' he smiled softly.

'Good luck' Rosie said as she pulled him into a hug, kissing his cheek.

'Take care, my golden angel' Jack whispered in his ear as he gave him a hug, kissing the side of his head in his hair.

'And you, and live a fantastic life' he beamed at the pair of them, and with a final nod, he stepped back into the Tardis.

…

'How are they?' the Doctor asked.

'Good yeah, they have a house and a daughter and are happy' he smiled at him, before he noticed Rose sitting on the captain's seat. She too was wearing a pair of track suit bottoms, and a long pink jumper, matching the slippers on her feet. She looked kinda down, and looking at the Doctor, who silently shook his head, he let out a sigh and went and sat next to her.

'So, how are you today' he asked.

'Cold, very cold and guilty. Kora, I let go of her hand' she whispered.

'It wasn't your fault. I'm so sorry about her Rose, I truly am' he told her and he pulled her into a hug, which she immediately and tightly return. She let out a choked sob into his shoulder.

'We were as respective as possible to her' he admitted, and she looked up at him with tears and confusion in her eyes.

'What'd you mean?' she sniffed.

'Her body, she was on top the Tardis when we found it. Jack lowered her into the water, she sank beneath the surface. The Titanic's her resting place now' he told her in a hushed tone, and when more sobs escaped her, she broke down in her brother's arms as he had his baby sister close.

'It's my fault, if I'd held on longer, maybe…' she wailed.

'It is not your fault, you hear me Rose Tyler, it isn't' Craig's voice was so gently but firm at the same time.

'Jack named his daughter after her, she isn't going to be forgotten' he said loud enough for the Doctor to hear, who was pretending to look at something below the controls to give them some privacy.

'Yeah, I guess that's something' Rose whispered softly. The three of them stayed quiet for a little while.

'I wanna go home' she suddenly came out with. Craig didn't react, just held her close, whilst the Doctor popped his head up, a grim expression on his face. He was just beginning to get closer to them, he didn't want them to leave! When she noticed his expression Rose went on.

'Not permanently, I just wanna visit' she elaborated, and the Doctor let out an audible sigh of relief.

'Ok, but let's go tomorrow, you've both been through a lot yesterday, and you're still freezing the pair of you. You both need rest, we're go tomorrow' he nodded, and once he was meet with two nods, both Tylers returned to their bedrooms.

…

The Doctor had made both his friends a cup of tea. He wanted to apologise to them both, but he didn't know how. He should never have put them through what he had! It was no wonder Rose wanted to go home for a visit after that. As he pasted Craig's room, he heard a light snoring, like that of a child coming through, and with a fond smile, he decided to leave him be, and knocked on Rose's door, he knew she was awake, he could hear her crying.

'I've brought you some tea' he said as he entered her room. The Tardis had decorated it an astonishingly bright pink, and had moved some cloths from the era wardrobe into a normal human on in her room. She also had a dressing table with bits of makeup on, and the outfit she had brought from home was folded up on a wooden chair.

'Thanks' she said shakily, hastily wiping away her tears.

'You know, it really wasn't your fault. It was more mine, I changed history back' he admitted as he sat down on her bed as she moved into a sitting position herself.

'How's it your fault, the Trickster would have destroyed time if you didn't change it back' she told him.

'How is it your fault, you didn't let go of her hand on purpose, the wave ripped her away' he told her kindly.

'Yeah I guess you're right' she said. She wanted to believe it wasn't her fault, and she knew deep down it wasn't, but it still felt as though she had failed little Kora, the girl who helped save the world, and nobody would ever know.

'Now you really must try to sleep' the Doctor said kindly. Rose laid back down and was out almost immediately.

'Sleep well, Rose Tyler' the Doctor whispered as he leaned down, placing a kiss on her forehead, before retreating from the room.

**...**

**And that's the end of my Titanic adventure. I want a lot of reviews for this chapter, I want to know what every one thinks of my own adventures and what they'd like to see in the future. So now we're going back to the normal episodes, so next up is Aliens of London. I should be little quicker now, because I'm not making the script myself as much, but as always I'll try to change things around and add Craig in as much as I can. Read on, faithful readers : )**


	21. Aliens of London, Running Late

**Woohoo! Here we are, back into the 'normal' episodes of the series : ) Now Aliens of London has been kind of tricky for me to write. When you think about it, this episode is all about setting up World War Three, and that makes it kind of hard for anything Craig to do to have real consequences. So in this episode, I suppose Craig has a less significant part then normal, oh well! But I've tried to give him a few new scenes, and a little Craig/Jackie moment to begin establishing the mother son bond they share. As always I don't own Doctor Who, but the fantastic Craig Tyler is mine!**

**...**

**Aliens of London**

**Aliens of London – Running Late**

With a swirl of wind which lifted some litter of the ground and blew it away, the Tardis softly landed, right in the court yard of the Powell Estate. Despite the fact Rose had wanted to go immediately to see Jackie, the Doctor had pointed out that after coming extremely close to freezing to death, maybe they should wait until their strength was back up, and reluctantly she had agreed. So it was mid-afternoon for them went they arrived.

They quietly stepped out, Rose looking around seeing the estate the same as ever, Craig was looking at something a short distance away, and the doctor was leaning against the Tardis door with his arms crossed, a smile across his face.

'How long have we been gone?' Rose asked.

'About 12 hours' the doctor grinned, the bizarreness of that caused the three of them to laugh. Imagine, going the three different time zones, all in the space of 12 hours, Fantastic!

'Ooooh! Right, I won't be long, I'm just gonna see my mum' Rose said as she set off, Craig slowly following her.

'What're you going to tell her?' the doctor asked curiously

'I don't know! We've been to the year 5 billion... and only been gone, what, 12 hours?' she giggled as she paused walking, whilst the Doctor snorted with a bit of a laugh as well.

'No, I'll just tell her I've spent the night at Shareen's. Craig can just say he spent the night with some guy he met. See you later! Oi… don't you disappear' she called back as they set of again. Satisfied with the indignant look he shot after them and that he would stay put, the pair rushed off towards the flats.

…

So, this guy I met, is he hot?' Craig laughed as Rose rolled her eyes playfully.

'Yeah, just describe Jack Dawson and you'll be fine' she laughed.

'Jack Dawson had eyes only for Rosie as well you know' Craig chuckled.

'Yeah Well, what are we actually gonna tell her?' she asked. It was sort of unfair for Mickey to know what they were doing, travelling the stars, whilst the mother had no clue, and they weren't about to stop.

…

In the court yard, the doctor was looking around, taking in all the details of the place where Craig and Rose had grown up. It was simple, and a bit off a rough area, but he was constantly amazed at how places like this could produce people like the wonderful Tylers. But something was wrong, something caught his attention, a poster fluttering in the breeze. It was hanging on a wall with a corner unhooked, folding over itself, and pushing it back, the Doctor looked at it in horror, before racing off towards the stairs, desperate to get to Rose and Craig before they saw Jackie, before this became an established event. For on the poster were the words 'CAN YOU HELP' and a photograph of Rose and Craig at a party. It was obviously a missing poster set up by the police, and he realised with guilt, that this wasn't 12 hours later, but instead 12 months, a whole year. And if they got to Jackie first, then they would have to stay missing for the whole year or cause a paradox.

…

'Right here we are, ladies first' Craig said as he unlocked their front door, and Rose quickly went in.

'We're back, I was with Shareen. She was all upset again, and someone let me have the fun of dealing with her on my own whilst he swans off with some guy he met, anyway are you in?' she called, and Jackie crept out of the kitchen, a cup in hand, her mouth hanging open in disbelieve, her eyes wide with shock, and something else, a tiny bit off hope. Craig stopped to look at her for a moment. She was wearing a pink dressing gown, and her hair looked like it had been unkempt for a while, her dye starting to fade, like she didn't care about it anymore. She was thinner, and her eyes had shadows under them, like she hadn't been sleeping. He was about to ask what was wrong, but Rose spoke first, seemingly obvious to her appearance.

'So, what's been going on? How've you been?' she asked happily, catching the fact that Jackie was looking at them as if they were ghosts.

'What? What's that face for? It's not the first time either of us has stayed out all night' she said softly, but instead of a reply, Jackie simply dropped the cup, china and tea shattering over the floor.

'It's you. Both of you' Jackie gasped in disbelieve.

'Of course it's us!' Rose cried in confusion as tears began pouring down their mother's face, her breathing becoming shaky.

'Oh my God. It's you. Oh my God' she cried out in delight as she threw her arms around the pair of them. Over her shoulder, on the coffee table, were stacks of posters, all bearing the same message though with slight changes between them 'WHERE ARE ROSE AND CRAIG'. Before either of them could comment, the doctor had come crashing in.

'It's not 12 hours; it's err... 12 months. You've been gone a whole year' he stuttered, a light apologetic laugh in his tone. The three Tyler all looked at him, completely stunned.

'Sorry' he said softly.

…

Craig had decided in that moment, that the Doctor was the worst driver, ever! Once they had convinced Jackie that they were not a hallucination, nor would they go anywhere whilst she had got changed, into a stripy blue jumper and pink trousers, her hair tied back, the screaming had started. Both Tylers were sitting in chairs, the Doctor hovering awkwardly behind Rose, whilst Jackie was laying into them, a policeman she had summoned sitting opposite them, a young officer with short cropped brown hair, a stern expression on his face.

'The hours I've sat here. Days and weeks and months all on my own. I thought you were both dead. And where were you? Travelling. What the hell does that mean? Travelling? That's no sort of answer.' Jackie ranted, fury dripping from every word.

'You ask them. They won't tell me! That's all they say. Travelling.' She said to the policeman.

'That's what we was doing' Rose tried, but it just made Jackie even angrier.

'With your passports still in the drawer? It's just one lie after another!' she roared, indicating the room where said passports were kept.

'I meant to phone, I really did, I just... I forgot.' Craig said in an attempt to show that they had been thinking of her, though he realised how bad that must have sounded.

'What, for a year? You both forgot for a year? And I am left sitting here? I just don't believe either you. Why won't one of you tell me where you've been?' she cried in anguish.

'Actually, it's my fault. I sort of err, employed Rose and Craig as my companions' the doctor chipped in to help, but failed miserably, after all, there was nothing that could help this situation.

'When you say 'companions', is this a sexual relationship?' the policeman asked.

'No!' the three of the cried in disgust.

'That's revolting, she my sister' Craig snapped.

'Then what is it? Because you, you waltz in here all charms and smiles, and the next thing I know, they vanishes off the face of the earth! How old are you then? 40? 45? What, you find one of them on the Internet and get lucky when both of them go with you? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?' Jackie started on the doctor, advancing murderously on him.

'I AM a Doctor!' he tried to defend.

'Prove it! Stitch this, mate' and with that, she brought her hand around and slapped him around the face, his head jerking back. Whilst he groaned loudly, Rose rolled her eyes, and Craig hastily stifled a giggle.

…

Whilst Craig was answering the Policeman's questions, careful not to let anything important or incriminating slip, Jackie and Rose were in the kitchen, hugging each other whilst tears were rolling down both their faces.

'Did you think about me at all?' Jackie sobbed.

'I did! All the time! But...' Rose said shakily, but failed to finish, as she had no clue as to what to say.

'One phone call. Just to know that one of you was alive!' she Jackie said, sternness and heart ache in her voice.

'I'm sorry. I really am. And I know Craig is too' she sobbed.

'Do you know what terrifies me, is that you still can't say. What happened to you both, Rose? What could be so bad that you can't tell me, sweetheart? Where were you?' she pleaded, but Rose still failed to answer her, despite how much it broke her heart not too.

…

'I've gotta tell her' Craig said softly. He had just thanked the policeman for his time and shown him out, with a lecture about wasting police time, for a whole year, and was now sitting across from the doctor. At his words, the doctor raised an eyebrow.

'Don't look at me like that, if you hadn't got the flight wrong, again, this wouldn't be happening' he snapped.

'I AM sorry Craig, if I'd have known before you came in the flat, this wouldn't have become an established event, I could have taken you back to the real day after' he said, genuinely apologetic.

'Well, either way, I'm still gonna tell her, it would've been unfair not to tell her anyway, but now, she deserves to know what happened to us doctor' Craig pointed out.

'Okay… do you want me to help' the doctor asked.

'Thanks, I think this might need some proof, can I show her the inside of the Tardis' he asked.

'Just as long as you don't turn it domestic' the doctor warned, before smiling and pulling something out of his pocket. A Key

'I'm gonna stay and talk to Rose, give you some time on you own with your mum, here's a key to the Tardis, tell you what, keep it' he grinned as Craig took the key from him.

'Really' Craig asked in disbelief, and when the doctor nodded, he grinned, give him a quick hug, and went to go talk to Jackie, whilst the doctor and Rose left together, for where, he didn't know.

…

'Mum, I really think you should sit down' Craig started, and once they were seated at the coffee table, a cup of tea in front of them, Craig began to explain.

'When Rose's shop blew up, and those plastic dummies attacked, that was when we met the doctor' he began to explain.

'I remember, I was so scared, three brides nearly killed me' Jackie said softly.

'Well, the thing behind it was an alien, a being from another world'

'What are you talking about Craig?' she asked, concerned for her son's sanity.

'I know it sounds mad mum, but that's nothing, because that's where me and rose have been' he cut over her.

'Where though?' she asked desperately, confused when Craig pointed at ceiling, towards the sky.

'Space mum, the doctor's an alien too, the last of his kind. He took me and Rose with him, our choice, and he took us through the stars' he explained, taking her hands at the same time.

'I'm not sure what horrors he's done to you Craig, but you need to stay here so I can protect you, get you some help' she said, and Craig sighed, he knew she wouldn't believe this but he had to try anyway.

'He's my friend mum, he hasn't done anything to hurt me, he really is an alien, and I can prove it to you if you like' he tried.

'Ok' she nodded. She wanted some kind of evidence as to what had happened to her children, and even though she hated seeing Craig like this, completely bonkers, possibly tortured into insanity, if he could show her some evidence, maybe she could get a case against the doctor for abduction.

…

The doctor and Rose had found privacy upon the roof of the block of flat, so whilst the Doctor leant against a small wall, built to protect people falling off, Rose was sitting atop it.

'I can't tell her. I can't even begin... she's never gonna forgive us' Rose sighed.

'Well, Craig said he wanted to tell her, so I think he's saved you that one' the doctor commented.

'And I missed a year? Was it good?' she decided to change the subject.

'Middling' he replied, since he actually had no idea.

'You're so useless' she giggled.

'Well, if it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay here now?' he asked, praying they both would still come with him; he really cared about both of them.

'I dunno. We can't do that to her again, though.' She sighed.

'Well, she's not coming with us' he said firmly, causing Rose to burst out laughing, and he even joined in though he meant it.

'No chance' she chortled, the mental image of Jackie fleeing aliens on a spaceship was pretty hilarious.

'I don't do families' the doctor chuckled.

'She slapped you!' she said, still shocked at the event.

'900 years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother' he pouted.

'Your face' she giggled.

'It hurt!' he protested.

'You're so gay!' she laughed.

The Doctor rubbed his cheek, watching her with puppy eyes.

'Arr, poor Doctor, don't worry, Craig will kiss it better' she laughed, and even he laughed at that.

'Ha, ha' he said sarcastically, even though he was laughing.

'When you say 900 years...' she suddenly asked, turning the conversation away from the gay jokes.

'That's my age' be replied.

'You're nine hundred years old' she asked disbelievingly.

'Yeah' was the simple answer

'My mum was right, that is one hell of an age gap' she stated as she slipped off the wall.

'Every conversation with you just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to other than Craig. We've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and we can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and we're the only people on planet earth who know they exist' she realised. But right on cue as it were, a loud horn above sounded, a looking up their mouths dropped open as a spaceship, it's body shape like an egg but flat, with large wings on either side, grey in colour and smoking, flew extremely close to them, causing them to duck.

…

'Right Mum, this will probably surprize you, so just try and still calm so I can explain' Craig soothed. He had just led her down to the Tardis, and took the key which had been hung around his neck out to unlock.

'Craig I don't understand… oh no, wait, please tell me he didn't keep you locked up inside this thing, it's tiny. Did he trap you in here and make you do things' she asked horrified.

'Mum, please, just look inside' he practically begged, opening the door and standing back. Cautiously Jackie went in, and felt her heart rate increase as her mouth dropped open, her eyes widening in shock.

'But, it's impossible' she stammered covering her mouth.

'It's a spaceship; it's called the Tardis, S, Time and relative dimensions in space' he started, but before he could explain, Jackie had darted out of the Tardis, and began looking around it.

'You see mum, the doctor really is an alien, and me and Rose are just travelling with him, that's all' he said as he followed her around it in circles, both of them halting at the doors. Slowly, Jackie went back inside. Smiling, Craig took her hand and led her over to the captain seat, sitting next to her.

'Is it safe?' were the first words she uttered.

'Yeah' he said, unconvincingly even to him.

'I'll take that as a no' Jackie sighed.

'Mum, I promise you, even though it might sometimes by dangerous, the doctor will always do everything he can to look after us' he stated, knowing every word was nothing but the truth.

'But, that's my job, and you can't go with him, you can't leave me again' she sobbed.

'I'm sorry mum, but, with everything I've seen, I can't go back to a normal life, I just can't' he said, as the two embraced in a hug. Suddenly from outside, there was a loud blaring noise, and dashing out, Craig was amazed to see a large smoking spaceship in the sky.

'Oh my god, another spaceship' Jackie cried, and Craig had to feel pity for her, her day was getting weirder and harder to take by the minute. Standing just outside the Tardis, they watched its progress over London, narrowly missing London Bridge, before it crashed into the Thames, but not before slashing through Big Ben with its wing, shattering the top part of the tower and leaving it smoking, rubble showering the street below.

**...**

**And there's the first part of Aliens of London! So, Craig tells Jackie what's happening straight away, and she knows about the Tardis, so some things are going to change, even if they are only little details. But as I said, its kind of hard to change much in this episode as it's really just setting up the next one, but I'll do my best : ) Also, in the last chapter Rose was really down about Kora, but I like to think that her conversation with the Doctor really helped, and I didn't want her depressed in this episode as she wasn't in the 'real' one, so please don't complain about that, it was actually for a reason, that being the beginning of the development of their relationship : ) Please leave a review and if you still haven't voted, get to it because I'll be taking it down and announcing the winner pretty soon!**


	22. Aliens of London, Fake Aliens

**Hey, I'm so happy about the amount of reviews I got for the last chapter, so I'm rewarding you with another chapter today! Again, I've tried to put Craig in a much as possible, but it's still pretty hard : ) I'm working on the rest of Aliens of London, and World War Three, so I shouldn't be too long : ) As always Doctor Who isn't mine, but Craig Tyler is!**

**...**

**Aliens of London – Fake Aliens**

Unsurprisingly, the entire city was in chaos. The roads were shutting down as the Thames was being closed off, cars horns were blaring and people were shouted, whilst the police tried to keep them back. The Doctor and Rose had run down the building, finding Craig and Jackie at the Tardis, and whilst she had returned to the flat in a state of shock, the trio bolted into the streets as fast as they could.

'It's blocked off.' The doctor pointed out as they were forced to come to a stop.

'We're miles from the centre. The scene must be grid locked. The whole of London must be closing down' Rose thought aloud.

'I know, I can't BELIEVE I'm here to see this! This is fantastic!' the doctor grinned ecstatically.

'Did you know this was going to happen?' Craig wanted to know.

'Nope!' he grinned

'Do you recognize the ship?' Rose asked curiously.

'Nope!' he continued beaming.

'Do you know why it crashed?' Craig asked.

'Nope!' he still grinned madly

'Oh, I'm so glad we've got you' Rose laughed.

'I bet you are! This is what I travel for! To see history happening right in front of us' he grinned.

'Well, let's go and see it! Never mind the traffic, we've got the TARDIS!' Craig pointed out with a smile.

'Better not. They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London, don't want to shove another one on top.' The doctor reasoned.

'Yeah, but yours looks like a big blue box. No one's going to notice' Rose argued.

'You'll be surprised, an emergency like this - there'll be all kinds of people watching. Trust me, the TARDIS stays where it is' he said firmly, noting their disgruntled faces but stuck to his decision.

'So, history's happening and we're stuck here' Craig said sadly.

'Yes, we are' he said pointedly.

'We could always do what everybody else does' Craig chuckled. The doctor face would be so brilliant at this!

'We could watch it on TV' he grinned, even more so when the Doctor looked as though this was a completely new idea to him.

…

Getting back to the Powell Estate, the three of them were just passing the Tardis when the doctor yelped in surprize.

'What little toe rag's done this' he shouted, and looking at the Tardis, they realised what had annoyed him. Written in aerosol spray paint was the word's BAD WOLD, white against the blue.

'That'll be little Johnny Watson, aerosol's his mark' Rose commented.

'Those words again, they're everywhere' Craig murmured, but neither Rose nor the Doctor heard him.

'Give me his address later, I wanna word with him' the doctor fumed. The greatest and most ancient ship in the entire universe, defaced by a little scummy kid of an old estate, the universe really had fallen.

'Well never mind that now, big alien spaceship in the Thames, bit more important' Craig pointed out, and with a sigh, the three of them headed up to the flat.

…

'Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands in Central London. Police reinforcements are drafted in from across the country to control wide-spread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchinson is at the scene' the voice of the newsreader said as the television showed a low angle of Big Ben with part of the top of it missing, two of its clock faces shattered, before the image changed to show police dealing with the public, and then finally settling on a man, clearly Tom Hitchinson, standing on the bridge at the base of Big Ben, the spaceship floating in the Thames in the background.

The Doctor, Rose and Craig were all watching it intently, whilst Jackie, who had invited show of their friends from the flats around, was serving them drinks.

'The police urge the public not to panic. There's a help line number on screen right now if you're worried about friends or family.' As Tom said this, the number appeared at the bottom of the screen, but before he went on, they switched the channel onto the American News Channel, where the well-known new reader, even in Britain, Trinity Wells, was address the camera about the events.

'The military are on the lookout for more spaceships. Until then, all flights in North American air space have been grounded' she stated, before they switched back to News 24.

'The army are sending divers into the wreck of the spaceship. No one knows what they're going to find' Tom said, nervousness in his voice, before they were back to Trinity.

'The President will address the nation live from the White House. But the Secretary General has asked that people watch the skies' Trinity told them, just as Jackie came and gave Rose a cup of tea.

'I've got no choice! Either I make him welcome, or I run the risk of never seeing you again!' she was complaining, with her friend Marianna yelling at Craig behind her.

'You both broke your own mother's heart you did, in tears she was, breaking apart in my arms, whilst I cradled her like a child!' she shouted, cutting over the news and annoying the doctor greatly, this was just far to domestic for him.

'Oi! I'm trying to listen!' he called at them, before switching back to Tom Hitchinson.

'They've found a body' he stared, and the Doctor, Rose and Craig's eyebrows all shot up in wonder.

It's unconfirmed but I'm being told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore' he said, as the screen showed men in diver suits bring a body bag back by boat. At that moment, Jackie brought out a bottle of wine, giving some to some of the guests.

'Oh, guess who asked me out, Billy Crewe' she smiled, not noticing the Doctor shake his head in irritation.

'Unconfirmed reports say that the body is of extra-terrestrial origin. Extraordinary events unfolding here live here in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary. The whereabouts is yet unknown' Tom told them.

'We still don't know whether it's alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything. But the body has been brought here, Albian Hospital, with the roads closed off; it's the closest to the river'

'I'm being told that... General Asquith is now entering the hospital. The building has been evacuated. The patients have been moved out onto the streets. The police still won't confirm the presence of an alien body. Contained inside those walls.'

'This is unbelievable, are you sure you still don't fancy a look' Craig whispered to the doctor.

'Let's go, its far to domestic in here anyway' he said, sounding genuinely terrified, and Craig laughed at him as they discreetly stood up and slipped out the door. They had only taken about three steps, when Rose burst out after them.

'And where do you think you two are going?' she demanded, causing them to snap around.

'Nowhere!' the doctor cried, sounding just like a child caught in the wrong doing. At her expression, he elaborated.

'It's just a bit human in there for me. History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top up cards for half price. I'm off on a wander, that's all' he assured her.

'Right, there's a spaceship on the Thames and you're just 'wandering'' she said pointedly, clearly she didn't believe him.

'Nothing to do with me! It's not an invasion! That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, colour of smoke, everything! It's perfect!' he shouted happily.

'Yep perfect, other than the fact that it crashed' Craig chuckled.

'So...' Rose started for him to carry on.

'So maybe this is it! First contact! The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering because you've GOT to handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay! Now you can expand!' he laughed in delight, which finally caused Rose to smile.

'You don't need me, go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum' the doctor said, starting to walk away.

'What's your excuse Craig' Rose wanted to know.

'I can't stand Marianna's scowling and yelling' he shrugged, and with a light giggle Rose nodded.

'Promise you won't disappear?' she pleaded with the doctor. He grinned at her and drew out another key to the Tardis of his jacket.

'A key to the Tardis, I gave one to Craig this morning to show Jackie the Tardis, you can have this one' he said, placing it in her hand.

'See you later!' Craig grinned at her chuffed expression, and with a little wave, Rose went back into the flat, whilst the doctor led Craig back to the Tardis.

'Hey, gorgeous! Come back and join the party!' a woman, slightly drunk, yelled from the balcony down at the doctor as they went inside.

They completely missed seeing one Mickey Smith watching them from his balcony, a completely shock and horrified expression on his face.

They ran up to the console, and the doctor was slamming down a few buttons and turning a handle, beaming up at it when it starts to move as Craig clung on. The blonde thought for a moment he heard a voice from outside, calling for the Doctor, but as they faded, he dismissed it as his imagination; as they soared off, ready to solve the mystery.

The console was starting to smoke and looking slightly put-out, the Doctor hit it a couple of times with a hammer, which amazingly seemed to help. Craig grinned at him as the Doctor kissed the hammer and gazed up at the console with a childish beam on his face.

Craig and the Doctor emerged from the TARDIS, which seemed to have landed squashed up in a small storeroom. They both looked around in slight confusion before making their way to the door. The doctor turned on his sonic screwdriver, which made a loud buzzing noise, forcing him to turn it off again.

'Shh!' he cried softly.

'It's a screwdriver, it can't listen' Craig whispered, causing the doctor to roll his eyes.

'So where are we, the hospital where that creature was taken?' he asked in an almost silent tone.

'Yep, let's go see exactly who it was?' the doctor said, pulling the door open, only to find roughly twenty men, all dressed in camouflage army uniforms sitting around talking, before they looked up at them in shock.

'Oh… Fan. Bloody. Tastic' Craig said sarcastically, dragging them out of their shocked trance, and they all leapt to their feet and pointed their guns at them, causing the doctor to grin, though why, Craig had no idea.

Before anybody had a chance to even open their mouths, a scream rang through the entire building. The doctor quickly stopped smiling, grabbed Craig by the hand and together they ran towards the source of the noise.

'Defence part delta! Come on, move, move!' he called back to the soldiers, all of whom followed them from the room in the direction of the scream.

Running down the corridors, the doctor went to keep going, but Craig spotting a young Japanese woman cowering on the floor. She had dark hair and glasses, wearing a lab coat. She was clearly a scientist or a doctor of some kind.

'Doctor!' he shouted to get his attention, before rushing over to her, holding her hands in a comforting touch.

'It's alive!' she cried out hysterically.

'Spread out. Tell the perimeter it's a lock down' the doctor ordered the soldiers, who ran off, presumably to start searching the building, with one staying behind to keep the doctor and Craig under supervision.

'My God … it's still alive' she stuttered again.

'It's alright, just tell us your name' Craig said soothingly.

'T…Toshiko S…Sato' she breathed.

'Right, my name's Craig and this is the Doctor' Craig smiled.

'I swear it was dead' she said terrified.

'Coma, shock, hibernation … could be anything. What does it look like?' the doctor said quickly, ignoring Craig's glare for his tactlessness, after all, this wasn't the time to be polite. Before she could answer, there was a light crash from behind them, causing them all to look towards the source quickly.

'It's still here' the doctor realised.

He stood up and beckoned the soldier into the room. He walked forward quietly and slowly, as to not frighten whatever it was, looking for the source of the sound. When he heard another rattling, he dropped to his knees and crawled to peer behind the desk. From the other side of the desk, the face of a pig peered back at him, snorting. Craig gasped loudly in shock at it. It wasn't an earth pig, but it was something very close, wearing a small black spacesuit.

'Hello!' the doctor whispered, but failed miserably to be welcoming, for the pig squealed in terror and ran across the room, as the soldier readied his gun.

'Don't shoot!' the doctor commanded, as the pig ran into the corridor. They went after it, only to see another soldier raise his gun and fire before the doctor could stop him.

'What did you do that for? It was scared!' the doctor shouted at him as Craig rushed to the pig's side, hearing it's breathing slow down. He gently placed his hands over one of the pig's toe like hands. The soldier looked from him to the pig in alarm, as the Doctor crouched down next to Craig, stroking its face gently, before its eyes closed and it took its final breath.

…

Quietly, and with as much respect as possible, the doctor had lifted the pig creature onto an autopsy table, where Dr Sato was examining it, Craig standing opposite her, whilst the doctor was leaning against the back wall, a dark grim expression on his face.

'I just assumed that's what this species of alien's look like. But you're saying it's an ordinary pig? From Earth?' Dr Sato questioned as they looked down at the once normal creature.

'More like a mermaid. Victorian showmen used to draw the crowds by taking the skull of a cat and gluing it to a fish and calling it a mermaid' the doctor explained to them

'What, and now, someone's taken a pig, opened up its brain, stuck bits on... and then they strapped it in that ship and made it dive bomb' Craig said, disgust lining his voice. That had to be the sickest and most evil thing he had ever heard of, including the Trickster attempting to create victims from their own dreams!

'It must've been terrified. They've taken this animal and turned it into a joke' the doctor said mournfully.

'I'm so sorry' Craig whispered to the pig, lightly stroking its cold hand. It felt strange, grieving a pig, but unlike pigs cut up for meat, this pig had had the worst fate possible, and it felt awful!

'So it's a fake. A pretend. Like the mermaid. But the technology augmenting its brain... it's like nothing on Earth. It's alien. Aliens are faking aliens. But why would they do that...?' Dr Sato questioned aloud. She had completely missed the Doctor take hold of Craig's hand and silently led him away.

As they turned around a corner, heading back into the Tardis, they heard her cry out their name's in shock, before her voice was cut off by the sounds of the Tardis.

**...**

**And there's part two! Yay, Tosh was in it! Now I loved Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Tosh, and Owen in Torchwood, but Tosh, Gwen, and Jack were always my special favourites, I nearly cried when she died. Her name is never actually given in Aliens of London, but it is on her ID card, but that just isn't enough! I do have plans for The Doctor to meet her and all the Torchwood team, but that's only after the end of Series 3, so it's a while off yet. Anyway, let me know what you think, and you have eight reviews to beat so please try : )**


	23. Aliens of London, Domestics!

**And here's part 3 : ) So I think this story is going pretty well so far, and by that I mean the whole thing. People seem to enjoy it which is great, and I have some ideas for the remaining episodes. I just want to give a fair warning. If anybody reading this still want's to vote, the poll will be coming down by the end of Aliens of London, and I'll be announcing the winner, yay! So its not too late right now, but it soon will be. Please note that I am still not the owner of Doctor Who, but I do own the lovely Craig Tyler : )**

**...**

**Aliens of London – Domestics!**

The Tyler's sitting room was extremely crowded as Jackie raised her wine glass in a toast, everyone else in the room mimicking her.

'Here's to the Martians!' she called.

'The Martians!' everyone cheered, even Rose, though she guessed that they weren't from Mars. She was so engrossed in the celebration around her, that she failed to see Mickey standing in the doorway. But as the laughter died away, she looked around, wondering why everyone had gone quiet, her eyes widening as she looked at him.

'I was gonna come and see you' she said as a greeting, even if it was actually a lie, she hadn't really thought of Mickey since she had found out it had been a year, only of how upset her mother had been. He just stared at her, in complete shock.

'Someone owes Mickey an apology' Marianna spoke up.

'I'm sorry' Rose uttered, well aware of how many people were watching this exchange.

'Not you' Marianna snapped, looking at Jackie instead.

'It's not my fault. Be fair. What was I supposed to think?' Jackie sighed, before leading a fuming Mickey and confused Rose into the kitchen for a more private conversation.

'You and Craig disappear, who do they turn to? Your boyfriend. Five times, I was taken in for questioning. Five times. No evidence, of course there couldn't be, could there. And then I get her, your mother. Whispering around the estate, pointing the finger, stuff through my letterbox, and all 'cos of you' Mickey raged.

'I didn't think I'd be gone so long' Rose feebly tried to defend, though she knew this anger was completely justified. She was going to kill the doctor if he ever did this again!

'And I waiting for you, Rose! Twelve months. Waiting for you, Craig and the Doctor to come back' he shouted.

'Hold on, you knew about the Doctor? Why didn't you tell me?' Jackie butted in confused and outraged that he had held this information back from her.

Mickey noticed someone trying to listen through the window into the kitchen, so he slammed them shut and closed the door.

'Yeah, yeah. Why not, Rose? Huh? How could I tell her where you and Craig went?'

'You knew about that spaceship, the Tardis or whatever Craig called it?' she asked.

'Craig told you' Rose asked in surprize. She knew Craig was planning on telling her, but not about everything!

'He showed it to me, bigger on the inside, and for a whole year you knew, come on, admit it!' she yelled at Mickey.

'I might as well, 'cos you're stuck here. The Doctor and Craig have gone. Just now, that box thing just faded away' he smirked at Rose.

'What do you mean?' she demanded.

'They've left you. Some boyfriend HE turned out to be' he shot at Rose, kind of pleased by her hurt, after all, she had hurt him continuously for an entire year.

Rose ran out of the kitchen, grabbing a jacket from the back of the door on her way out. Still fuming, Mickey followed her, Jackie not far behind him.

…

Rose hadn't stopped running until she reach the spot the Tardis had been parked in, but was hit hard by the fact that Mickey was right. It was gone. Craig and the Doctor had both gone. Oh they had better come back for her!

'He wouldn't just go, he promised me. Craig wouldn't do that to me' she said adamantly.

'Oh, he's dumped you, Rose. Sailed off into space with only Craig. How does it feel, huh? Now you are left behind with the rest of us Earthlings. Get used to it' Mickey said spitefully.

'But he would have said, neither of them would just go' she nearly started to cry.

'Look, just leave it Mickey!' Jackie snapped, putting an arm around Rose's shoulder. With a huff, Mickey complied.

'He wouldn't mum! The doctor wouldn't go without me!' she nearly sobbed; despite the fact Jackie hadn't even said anything.

'I know he wouldn't' she tried to sooth. And he defiantly wouldn't just take Craig with him again, not without her knowledge or permission first!

'Face it, He's vamoosed! They both have!' Mickey chortled.

'He's not! 'Cos he gave me this!' Rose snapped, pulling out the Tardis key he had given her, though Mickey just shrugged, a 'so what' expression on his face.

'He's not my boyfriend, Mickey, he's better than that. He's much more important than…' she broke off as the sound of the Tardis alerted them to the fact that it was return. Well that and the key that was glowing gold in time with the sound of the engines.

'I said so' she grinned as the box appeared

'Blimey! I know that's its bigger on the inside, but bloody hell!' Jackie cried in shock as it finished appearing before them.

Instantly, Rose entered the TARDIS, finding the Doctor looking at the computer screen, Craig standing by his side.

'Alright, we lied! We went and had a look, but the whole crash landing's a fake, I thought so, it's just too perfect. I mean, 'hitting Big Ben' come on, so I thought let's go and have a look…' the doctor started before he was cut off.

'Mickey's here, I think he deserves an apology' she said quietly as not to be heard as Jackie and Mickey stepped into the Tardis behind her.

'Oh, that's JUST what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic!' he playfully scolded her, even if he meant it.

'You ruined my life, Doctor.' Mickey spat

The Doctor span smoothly around to face him, ready to take whatever Mickey could dish out at him.

'They thought she was dead, they thought that I had killed her, and then Craig when he tried to protect her. I was a double murder suspect because of you' he accused, his voice harsh.

'See what I mean? Domestic!' the doctor cried in annoyance.

'OI! In case you've forgotten, it's your own fault. If you had learnt how to actually drive this thing this wouldn't have happened!' Craig pointed out. The doctor was quickly becoming his best friend, but Craig would always keep him in line when he was wrong and didn't want to admit it. He was satisfied when the doctor looked down guiltily and nodded discreetly.

'I bet you don't even remember my name!' Mickey raged, advancing towards him.

'Ricky' the doctor muttered.

'It's Mickey' Mickey corrected, annoyed that he actually didn't remember.

'No, it's Ricky' the doctor insisted.

'I think I know my own name' Mickey snapped.

'You THINK you know your own name? How stupid are you?' the doctor said smugly.

'Stop it, just stop it!' Jackie cried, storming out of the Tardis. How could they argue so casually, like spaceships, as if that weren't enough, were always bigger on the inside? Worried, Rose rushed after her.

'Mum, hang on, it's not like that… I'll just be a minute hold on!' she called after her before going back inside, going straight to the Doctor's side, where he and Craig were looking at his monitor again.

'That was a REAL spaceship?' she questioned.

'Yep!' the Doctor said happily

'So, it's all a pack of lies? What is it then, are they invading?' Craig wanted to know, a trance of fear in his voice. None of the noticed that Mickey was on his tip-toes, peering at the screen through their shoulders.

'Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert' he commented.

'Good point! So, what're they up to?' the doctor said, soundly mildly impressed, and Craig gave him a satisfied smirk. He was wrong about Mickey, and it was about time he saw it.

…

The doctor had decided that the only way to figure out what was going on was to use the Tardis to scan the entire earth, so he was once again making some alterations and improvement below the console, though he was slightly embarrassed at how close he and Craig were. He had needed a second pair of hands, so Craig had climbed down to help him, only now the two men were pressed up against each other. Whilst the doctor had blushed at first, Craig had just laughed, and quickly the two began working.

'So, what're you doing down there?' Mickey asked from above them.

'Ricky' the doctor started.

'Mickey' Mickey corrected him, again!

'Ricky' the doctor persisted, causing the dark skinned man to roll his eyes, clearly irked.

'If I was to tell you what I and my outstanding friend were doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?' he asked.

'I suppose not...' Mickey said, clearly feeling smaller by the second.

'Shut it, then' he stated firmly. Once Mickey had wondered out of sight and earring range, Craig glared at him.

'Stop bullying him doctor, I hate bullying' he hissed.

'It's just that he's… well… an idiot' he defended, and Craig's eyebrows shot up.

'I don't care. I suppose I must be an idiot compared to you, but you don't pick on me like that, you tease me but don't bully me' Craig said softly.

'You are no idiot Craig Tyler, you are brave, unselfish, caring, loyal, fantastic, and by no way an idiot' he said firmly, a proud look in his eye.

'And don't you think that Mickey could be all those things if you let him show it' he argued.

'That's exactly what I'm trying to do' the doctor smiled, whilst Craig looked very confused.

…

Whilst Craig was telling the doctor off, Mickey, a hurt expression on his face, made his way over to Rose; it was time they talked properly.

'Some friend you've got' he commented, almost bitterly.

'He's winding you up' she said soothingly, but Mickey still looked upset, and chose not to answer.

'I am sorry' she said, noticing his hurt expression.

'It's okay' he said softly, like his heart wasn't in what he was saying.

'I am, though!' she repeated earnestly. She really hadn't meant to do that to him. Mickey let out a low sigh before opening his mouth.

'Every day, I looked. On every street corner, wherever I went, looking for a blue box for a whole year' he almost cried.

'It's only been a few days for me. I don't know, it's... it's hard to tell inside this thing but I swear it's just a few days since I left you' she tried to cheer him up.

'Not enough time to miss me, then?' he asked, his eyes shining as he tried to hold back tears.

'I did miss you' she smiled brightly at him.

'I missed you too' he said, glad to have her reassurance.

'So, erm... in twelve months, have you been seeing anyone else?' she asked tentatively.

'No' he sighed.

'Kay...' she let out, wondering if this meant he still wanted her. She still cared for him, but their relationship would never be the same now.

'Mainly because everyone thinks I murdered you' he clarified, and Rose couldn't help but hang her head at the reminder.

'Right' she sighed.

'So... now that you've come back... are you gonna stay?' he had to ask, but Rose didn't have an answer. He leaned in to kiss her, but the moment was broken by the sound of sparks from beneath the console.

'Got it! Haha!' the doctor laughed as he and Craig jumped back up.

Rose moved to the other side of the console to join them, leaving an even more hurt Mickey standing there, looking far off into space.

'Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of the spaceship, here we go... hold on...' the doctor said as he whacked the screen.

'Come on!' he cried in annoyance, before finally the screen showed what he wanted.

'That's the spaceship on its way to Earth... isn't it?' Rose asked as on the screen, a glowing white dot, representing the spaceship, headed towards a bigger blue circle, representing the earth, in an arch like motion.

'Hold on though' Craig said as he realised 'The path it took, follow that backwards and it'll come out on the other side of the world' he cried out in surprize.

'Exactly! Genius!' the doctor beamed that he had got it 'The spaceship did a sling shot round the Earth before it landed' he explained.

'What does that mean?' Rose asked confused. Why would aliens who were already there cause the entire world to know about their presence.

'It means it came from Earth in the first place, it went up and came back down. Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived. They've been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing?' he asked aloud, though not expecting an answer, as he began flicking through the channels on the screen, showing different places around the world, before he finally faulted on the news. Trinity Wells was commenting over the top of the picture.

'How many channels do you get?' Mickey asked curiously.

'All the basic packages' the doctor replied softly.

'You get sports channels?' Mickey asked excitedly, causing the doctor and even Craig to look annoyed. After all, aliens were doing something on the planet, and Mickey was more concerned about the sports world, honestly!

'Yes, I get the football, Hold on, I know that bloke' he murmured, as a group of people in a green uniform walking off screen were shown.

'It is looking likely that the government is bringing in alien specialists, those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space' Trinity Wells stated.

'UNIT! United Nations Intelligence Task force, good people' the doctor almost smiled

'How do you know them?' Rose asked.

'Cos he's worked for them. Yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet... and in the history books, and there's his name. Followed by a list of the dead' Mickey said coldly.

'That's nice. Good boy, Ricky' the doctor replied sarcastically, before Craig discreetly stomped on his foot.

'Ow' he said softly, wincing slightly and throwing Craig an indignant look, who easily held his ground, silently none the less.

'If you know them, why don't you go and help?' Rose carried on like there was no interruption, but then again, she hadn't seen them.

'They wouldn't recognize me. I've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep _this_ alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover... and eh, better keep the TARDIS out of site. Rickey! You've got a car, you can do some driving' he said cheerfully, walking towards the Tardis door quickly, so that Craig couldn't stamp on his foot again. For someone small and light his foot packed power.

'Where to?!' Mickey demanded.

'The roads are clearing. Let's go and have a look at that spaceship' the doctor grinned at the thought, seeing history unfolding right here before him, it was fantastic.

As they stepped out of the TARDIS, the sound of helicopters filled the air, drowning out the police car sirens and soldiers shouting around them, pointing their guns at them all. Mickey panicked when he saw them and bolted, with several officers, both army and police, giving chase. A spotlight was shone down on the three of them. Just out of sight, Jackie was running at them, screaming their names, but due to the combined noise of the helicopters and police cars, they didn't hear her.

'Do not move! Move away from the box!' a man's voice over a loudspeaker demanded.

Jackie was still struggling to get through, but was being held back from them. The three of them just stood there, surrounded by chaos, confused expressed on their faces.

'Raise your hands above your head! You are under arrest!' the man on the loudspeaker ordered, and slowly, the three of the obeyed, holding up their arms in surrender.

The doctor grinned, looking up at the helicopter.

'Take me to your leader!' he called up, and Craig gave a snort snort of laughter, whilst Rose let out a low groan at the bad joke.

**...**

**And there it is! I'm not sure how I feel about Aliens of London, its a pretty hard episode to include Craig in, as is World War Three. It's probably because in the end, The Doctor, Rose, and so will Craig, get stuck in a room for most of the episode whilst Mickey is the one to really save the day. Oh well, he can't be a hero all the time ; ) Only one chapter of this to go, so please review me your thoughts and any ideas. I've been given a great one by one of my readers and I'd love for someone else to give me another one ; )**


	24. Aliens of London, Ten Downing Street

**So here's the final part of Aliens of London : ) As promised the poll is closing, and I'll announce the winner soon! As always Doctor Who is not owned by me, yet the wonderful Craig Tyler is ; ) Please leave a review because I'd like to know what people think about his character, and I hope you enjoy this chapter, but go carefully, the Aliens of London are coming...**

**...**

**Aliens of London – Ten Downing Street**

After being directed by guns, the Doctor, Rose and finally Craig clambered into the back of a police car, leading where, Craig had no idea. He barely had time to think about it, as within seconds, the car was driving off, the Powell estate and the Tardis getting further and further away.

'This is a bit posh. If I knew it was gonna be like this, being arrested, I'd have done it years ago' Rose grinned.

'I know, I never thought it would be like this' Craig commented, looking out the window.

'We're not being arrested, we're being escorted!' the Doctor exclaimed.

'Escorted to where?' Craig asked.

'Where'd you think? Downing Street!' he grinned and both their mouths dropped open, their eyes widening. He laughed, and the pair of them joined in. This day had to be one of the weirdest, funniest, saddest, and most fantastic days of their lives.

'You're kidding' Rose gasped in disbelief.

'I'm not!' the doctor giggled, his voice going higher than normal due to his excitement.

'10 Downing Street?' Craig asked laughing his head off.

'That's the one!' the doctor beamed.

'Oh, my God! I'm going to 10 Downing Street?' Rose laughed with glee. The Doctor nodded, grinning so wide his face might've split.

'How come?' Craig chortled, calming down marginally.

'I hate to say it, but Mickey was right. Over the years I've visited this planet a lot of times, and I've been, uh… noticed' he smiled.

'Now they need you?' Rose asked to clarify. It was obvious that the Doctor would indeed be needed at a time like this.

'Like it said on the news, they're gathering experts in alien knowledge. And who's the biggest expert of the lot?' He grinned expectantly at them.

'Patrick Moore?' Craig said after pretending to think for a few moments.

'Apart from him!' he cried, pulling a wounded puppy dog look.

'Ah, don't you just love it...' Rose giggled.

'I'm telling you, Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table. Who's the Prime Minister now?' he asked.

'How should we know? we missed a year' Rose reminded him, just as the car came to a stop, and through the window, the highly polished door of number ten downing street came into view.

The paparazzi and dozens of police men were there as they were let out by their driver. The Doctor got out of the car and waved at them all, grinning manically. Rose smiled nervously and the looked up at the famous building, whilst Craig was waving delighted at the reporters, it was just too brilliant not too!

They were quickly ushered into a fancy looking room which was teeming with people in suits, uniforms, all of them looking important. They stood chatting happily as a woman dress in a pink jacket and a black skirt entered the room. Her light brown hair was combed neatly to the sides of her head, and she had a kind face, though one that looked like it could be stern when need be.

'Ladies and Gentlemen, could we convene? Quick as we can, please. It's this way on the right and can I remind you, ID cards are to be worn at all times' a dark skinned man, with black hair, wearing a black suit called out to the room. He was the clearly the secretary or someone else important to this building, and quickly, the other expects began filing out of the room whilst he approached the doctor.

'Here's your ID card. I'm sorry, your companions don't have clearance' he stated as he handed the doctor his card.

'I don't go anywhere without them' he replied stiffly and firmly as he put the card around his neck. Despite the fact his voice left little room for argument, the man clearly wouldn't back down either.

'You're the code nine, not them' he pointed out, not noticing the woman in the pink suit sidled up to them.

'I'm sorry, Doctor... it is the Doctor, isn't it? They'll have to stay outside' the man said firmly.

'They're staying with me' the doctor protested.

'Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there. I can't let them in and that's a fact' he said, shaking his head to get the point across.

'It's alright, you go' Rose said to the doctor, as the woman appeared at the man's shoulder.

'Excuse me? Are you the Doctor?' she asked, drawing attention to herself, whilst the man looked positively exasperated.

'Not now, we're busy, can't you go home?' he snapped.

'Are you sure?' the doctor said to Rose and Craig, completely ignoring the other two.

'Yeah, they're the experts, you should hear what they've got to say' Craig pointed out.

'I s'pose so. Don't get into any trouble' he said quietly but sternly as he followed the other experts out of the room.

'A bit rich coming from you' Craig called after him, and although he was out of sight, the sounds of him laughing floated back to them.

'I just need a word in private' the woman tried but was cut over by the man.

'You haven't got clearance, now leave it!' he shouted, and at the same time took a hold of Craig and Rose's arms, leading them away.

'I'm going to have to leave you both with security' he explained.

'It's alright. I'll look after them. Let me be of some use' the woman said as she caught up to them. She gently took their arms, and began leading them past the guards at the door, whilst the man sighed and went back to his work.

'Walk with me. Just keep walking… That's right… don't look round! Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North' she introduced herself, flashing an identity card at them as she said it.

…

The experts were all sitting down in their seats. The acting Prime Minister Joseph, since the news had reveal that earlier, the real one had mysterious disappeared and was being criticised for it, and Army General Asquith made their way to the desk at the front. Joseph was a large man with a full joyous face, kind eyes, dark curly hair, wearing a black suit and blue shirt. General Asquith on the other hand held a colder demeanour, had sharp eyes, greying hair, and wearing a high levelled army uniform and hat of a deep green colour.

The Doctor entered last and took a seat at the back of the room, reading the booklet he found on the chair extremely quickly.

'Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to have your attention please. As you can see from the summaries in front of you, the ship had one porcine occupant…' Asquith started but the Doctor swiftly cut over the top of him.

'Now, the REALLY interesting bit happened three days ago, see, filed away under every other business. The North Sea, the satellite detected a signal, a little blip of radiation at one hundred fathoms like there was something down there... you were just about to investigate and the next thing you know, this happens… spaceships, pigs, massive diversion, from what?' he thought aloud, pacing up and down the aisle, whilst all eyes turned to him.

'If aliens fake an alien crash and an alien pilot, what do they get?' he paused his pacing as he thought it out in his mind. 'Us. They get us. It's not a diversion, it's a trap' he realised 'This is all about us'. The expects all looked nervously worried, yet also intrigued.

'Alien experts, the only people with knowledge how to fight them gathered together in one room' he carried on, only to be cut off by a loud farting noise. The doctor turned to face Joseph, an eyebrow raises and a pointed look on his face.

'Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?' he snipped.

'Would you rather silent but deadly?' Joseph grinned, slightly menacingly. Both he and Asquith sniggered, causing the doctor to stare at them, but nothing could have prepared him for what happened next. Asquith took off his hat, and began pulling a zip running over his forehead as Joseph burst into a creepy tone of laughter.

Asquith pulled his own skin all the way down, along with his cloths, revealing that he was not in fact human, but a creature inside a human suit. The creature was roughly 8 feet tall with bright olive green skin. It had arms almost the length of its body ended in long sharp claws. It was built round and overweight, and had a round shaped head. It large almost bug like eyes were completely black, and around its neck was a collar like device. The Doctor stared at him, horrified yet transfixed. The experts were all gasping and watching in astonishment.

'We are the Slitheen' it announced, in a low gurgling voice.

'Thank you all for wearing your ID cards' Joseph said smugly, far too smug for the doctor's liking, as he stood up, bring a small remote control with a red button on the top from out of his pocket.

'They'll help to identify the bodies' he grinned, pressing the button. Instantly, every human in the room wearing an ID card shrieked in pain, as electricity coursed through their bodies. Most died instantly, others continued screaming in agony, whilst the doctor fell to his knees, his jaws clenched in pain. He cried out for the agony in his body, whilst Asquith merely laughed, and Joseph held a savage pleasure within his eyes.

…

Harriet had lead the two of them outside in the corridor, to get them alone so she could talk to them both, undisturbed and discreetly.

'This friend of yours... he's an expert, is that right? He knows about aliens?' she asked, her voice lined with fear and distress.

'Why do you wanna know?' Rose asked softly. Harriet soon broke down into tears, so Rose took her arms awkwardly in an attempt to comfort her, and Craig lightly patted her shoulder.

'It's alright, just tell us what's the matter so we can help' he said encouragingly and soothingly. With a shaky nod, Harriet rubbed at her eyes, before briskly leading them into the cabinet room, a highly polished room with a large fireplace, and a long mahogany desk, and comfortable looking chairs.

She quickly went over to a cupboard, and pulled at a sort of suit, made to look like an elderly man wearing a suit. As she brought it near them, Craig winced as he realised exactly what it was, it was the preserve skin of a dead man, made into a suit for something else!

'They turned the body into a suit! A disguise for the thing inside!' Harriet cried hysterically, before bursting into tears again. Rose felt a flare of sympathy for the woman; that must have been terrifying and horrific to watch.

'It's alright! We believe you. It's... its alien. They must have some SERIOUS technology behind this... if we could find it...' Rose said, as she began rummaging around the room, looking in a cabinet draw, under a desk, before she pulled open a larger cabinet door. With a gasp of surprize, she jumped back as out fell a man's body. A man in his fifties, wearing an expensive looking suit, his hair thinning on top. Hurriedly, Craig felt his neck for a pulse, finding none. He lightly shook his head. At that exact moment, the secretary stormed into the room

'Harriet, for God's sake! This has gone beyond a joke, you cannot just wander…' he started ranting, stopping as he spotted the body on the floor.

'Oh, my God. That's the Prime Minister!' he gasped.

'Ohhh!' a slightly taunting voice mocked from behind them, and turning, Craig, Rose, Harriet, and the secretary turned to see a short plump woman wearing a turquoise suit, with short blonde hair and deep red lips had entered the room.

'Has someone been naughty?' she asked in a voice like a mother talking to a small child. It sent a shiver up Craig's spine. The four of them looked at each other in bewilderment, as the woman shut the door behind her.

'That's impossible. He left this afternoon. The Prime Minister left Downing Street, he was driven away, you saw him Margret!' the secretary was having trouble putting it together.

'And who told you that? Hmm?' she asked tauntingly, stepping forwards.

'Me' she giggled creepily. She pulled back her fringe, revealing to their surprize a zipper, which she began to undone. Pulling away the skin, Craig was nearly sick as it rolled down, like the suit Harriet had found, revealing the large green creature inside. He wasn't the only one entirely freaked out either, for the three human's next to him also looked shocked and disgusted by her transformation.

She suddenly roared in delight and grabbed the secretary between her claws, pinning him up high above their heads against the wall. He yelled out, batting at the arm holding him with his fist. Craig tried to go forwards to help, but a terrified Rose grabbed his arm. They, and Harriet, winced as with a resounding snap, the heard the man's neck break. With a great thud, he slumped to the ground, dead, as Margret turned her attention to the three others, licking her lips, her eyes wide with pleasure of the terrible act she was about to commit, content with the one she had so carelessly just finished.

**...**

**And there's Aliens of London, Hooray! Now, the Craig Tyler Fate in the Parting of Ways Poll is closed, and the winner will be on my profile so check it out and leave a review telling me what you think about the result ; ) Again, not much Craig action but as I've said all along, it's kind of difficult to add him into this. It was either harder then to add him to 'Rose' but never mind : ) Carry on reading, my faithful readers!**


	25. World War Three, Hunting

**Here we go everyone, people are asking for World War Three, so I'm delivering ; ) Just want to say thanks for the number of reviews I got for the last chapter, and to tell you that I'm sticking with this all the way : ) As always I don't own Doctor Who, but I do own the wonderful Craig Tyler. Enjoy!**

**...**

**World War Three**

**World War Three – Hunting**

Joseph and the Slitheen were both cackling madly at the Doctor as he remained on his knees, howling in pain. With a tremendous effort, he forced his hand to rip off the ID card, panting with relief when the electricity immediately stopped coursing through him. It because an orb of cackling energy in his hand and he grinned. He lunged forwards, pinning the card into the creature before him, and smiled slightly as now it was the one feeling the pain. It shrieked as electricity course over its body, and miraculously, it seemed they were connected to each other, as Joseph had the blue crackling energy covering him too. As the Doctor fled the room, he heard them both howling in pain.

The Doctor raced down the highly polished dark wooden stairs. On them, and in the red painted corridor below he stopped near a small table with a black wooden busk on it at the end, the spot in the centre of all the armed guards all in black suits and helmets.

'Oi! You want aliens, you've got them. They're inside Downing Street. Come on!' he shouted, clapping his hands and running back to conference room. The soldiers all followed him, their guns at the ready.

Bursting back into the room, the Doctor saw that Asquith was back in his human suit, Joseph standing next to him. The bodies of the experts were still slouched in their chairs.

'Where've you been?' Joseph sharply demanded, and the Doctor frowned. He was clearly trying to deflect the truth, and he had a very bad feeling about it.

'I called for help, I sounded the alarm. There was this... lightening! This kind of erm... um... electricity, and they all collapsed!' he gasped. He was a pretty good actor; the Doctor would give him that.

'I think they're all dead' the head sergeant said as he felt a blond woman's neck for a pulse. There was none.

'That's what I'm saying. He did it! That man there!' Joseph yelled, brandishing a finger at the Doctor who scowled.

'I think you will find the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise' he pointed out simply. Joseph folded his arms, a sceptical expression on his face, and even the Doctor himself knew how stupid that must have sounded. He turned to face the sergeant, who bore a bemused expression on his face.

'That's never going to work, is it?' he asked exasperatedly to the sergeant.

'Nope' was the reply, accompanied with a head shake.

'Fair enough' he nodded, and without another word the Doctor bolted for the door, laughing as he heard the soldiers all following him.

…

Craig had grabbed Rose's hand, and together with Harriet they were backing away from the creature that had disguised herself as Margret. She was baring her teeth at the three of them, and gulping as she moved towards them, their mouths fell open as she was suddenly covered in blue bolts of electricity. She howled in pain, and the three of them took the opportunity to their advantage, rushing past her, Harriet whimpering slightly, Rose looking terrified, and Craig looking determined, because he was, he needed to find the Doctor. They hurried out into the corridor, looking around for somewhere else to hide.

'No, wait! They're still in there! The emergency protocols! We need them!' Harriet cried out, and skidding to a stop, they turned back, but were forced to change direction rapidly as Margret charged at them, no longer covered in electricity. They ran across a hallway with many doors, and once they passed through the end one Craig slammed it shut before bolting after Rose and Harriet. It didn't do them much good, as Margret simply burst through it. The hurried into another room, and quickly and quietly shut the door behind them.

…

Security was hot on the Doctor's tail, and he soon found himself surrounded. He puts his hands in the air, grinning. Aliens faking aliens, aliens faking aliens in Downing Street, fantastic!

'Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols, I authorize you to execute this man!' Asquith yelled as marched through the ring of soldiers, and Joseph nodded quickly. Security readied their guns, the safety clicking off, aiming at the doctor, but he was barely even fazed.

'Uh, well, now, yes. You see, eh... the thing is... if I was you, if I was going to execute someone by backing them against the wall, between you and me, little word of advice...' he said, just as the light ding told him his escape had arrived.

'Don't stand them against the lift!' he beamed, backing into the lift, closing the doors with the Sonic Screwdriver, just as Security was about to fire. As he went up, he could help but laugh, this day was just so bonkers, it was great!

…

Craig, Rose and Harriet sprinted through another door, this place was a maze, Craig thought as they came to a locked door. He kicked it as hard as he could, but it would budge. Margret cackled as she came up behind them.

There was suddenly a ding, and the lift doors opened to reveal… the Doctor, standing there grinning his head off.

'Hello!' he said cheerfully. Margret turned and hissed at him, but her distraction was enough.

'OI' Craig yelled, and as Margret turned back to him, he pushed Rose as hard as he could. She gasped as she was flung forwards, past Margret and into the Doctor's arms, as the lift door shut behind her. Margret turned back to face the lift, annoyed that one of them had escaped, and that was her mistake, because Craig and Harriet quickly slipped past her.

…

'Are you alright?' the Doctor asked concerned, looking down at Rose who he still held close in his arms.

'Well, I could have used a warning but yeah, I'm ok' she feebly answered as she too clung to him.

'Right, now we need to get back to Craig' the Doctor said determinedly.

The lift stopped again at the second floor this time, and poking their heads out cautiously, the Doctor and Rose ran to find somewhere safe to hide.

…

Craig and Harriet had come into a nicely furnished room, with cream colour sofas, large wooden wine cabinets, large brown Japanese style screens, and long flowing red curtains. Several small glowing lamps stood and highly polished wooden tables. It was the kind of room you'd expect in an old style five star hotel, not Ten Downing Street. Craig hurried to the only other door, pulling at the handle but to no avail, they were trapped!

'Quick, hide' he ordered Harriet, darting around the room and crouching down behind the wine cabinet. Harriet quickly hid behind the screen. Neither of them was that well hidden, but they had no time to dwell on that as Margret stalked into the room.

'Oh, such fun! Little human children... where are you? Sweet little humeykins… come to me… let me kiss you better…' Margret said in her bubbling voice, sickeningly playfully. This was all just a game to her, Craig thought angrily as he bolted from his hiding place to take refuge behind a look curtain instead.

'Kiss you with my big, green lips' she continued, followed by a hiss.

He peered out to see two more creatures, identical to Margret enter the room. He quickly retracted his head.

'My brothers' Margret said softly and delightedly.

'Happy hunting?' one of them asked, the one that was Joseph.

'It's wonderful. The more you prolong it, the more they stink' Margret said, a savage pleasure dripping from her voice.

'Sweat… and fear' the other one said, the one that was Asquith. Harriet's mouth dropped open in horror at the delight he took in saying this.

'I can smell an old girl... stale perfume... brittle bones' he laughed, and soon was bore an indignant and angry expression, but remain silent and in hiding.

'And I smell a handsome young male. All testosterone and hormones and adrenaline. Young and flexible enough for you to bend him before he snaps' Margret said happily, as she swept back the curtain, revealing Craig who yelped in shock and fear. Harriet leapt out from her hiding place. She really didn't want to see somebody as young as the man before her killed before he had a chance at life. She would do anything to stop that!

'No! Take me first! Take me!' she pleaded.

…

The Doctor and Rose were creeping along a corridor when they suddenly heard Craig cried out in surprize. Then they had another voice, a woman's shouting for them to take her first, and Rose smiled, she really liked that Harriet woman! The Doctor grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and burst into the room, Rose was right by him. The three Slitheen turned to face them, and the Doctor blasted the cold foaming substance into their faces, causing the two males to shriek in surprize. Craig grabbed the curtain and pulled it down over Margret who had turned around in her distraction. She struggled to remove it as Craig ran over to the Doctor and Rose, Harriet quickly joining them.

'Who the hell are you?' he asked, looking at her in confusion.

'Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North' she replied quickly, not looking at him but focusing on the Slitheen instead.

'Nice to meet you' he beamed, turning back to the aliens before them himself.

'Likewise' she replied with a bright smile. The Doctor blasted the extinguisher again until it ran out, and Craig seized it, throwing it at one of them, hearing it howl in pain as the four of them ran as fast as they could, fleeing into the corridors once more.

'We need to get to the cabinet rooms!' the Doctor told them as they all ran, the heavy footsteps behind them alerting them to the fact that the Slitheen was on their tail again.

'The Emergency Protocols are in there! They give instructions on aliens!' Harriet quickly stated between pants for air.

'Harriet Jones, I like you' he grinned as they rushed around a corner.

'And I like you too' she smiled. The Doctor quickly used the Sonic Screwdriver on a locked door and the hurried through it, whilst the Slitheen chased after them. The door had led them exactly where the Doctor had wanted them, the Cabinet rooms, but with no time to lock the door again, he quickly picked up a bottle of brandy from a nearby table and held his Sonic against it.

'One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof! We all go up. So back off' he growled, pleased to see the Slitheen hesitate. Craig, Rose, and Harriet all stood hesitantly behind him as he stood just behind the doorframe.

'Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?' he demanded.

'They're aliens' Harriet stated the obvious.

'Yes. I got that, thanks' the Doctor sarcastically replied.

'Who are you, if not human?' Joseph asked.

'Who's not human?' Harriet quickly asked.

'He's not human' Rose put in, pointing at the Doctor.

'He's not human?' Harriet asked in shock and astonishment.

'He's the Doctor, a Time Lord, but an alien' Craig explained quietly.

'Can I have a bit of hush?' the Doctor rolled his eyes. This really was not the time for them to be having a conversation!

'Sorry' Harriet said softly.

'So, what's the plan?' he demanded, turning his attention back to the Slitheen.

'But he's got a Northern accent' Harriet couldn't help but say. She really was good at noticing these things, Craig thought with a small smile.

'Lots of planets have a North' Rose replied, think back to when the Doctor himself had answered that question.

'I said hush. Come on!' he demanded of the Slitheen, brandishing the bottle threateningly out in front of him.

'You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government, what for? Invasion?' he wanted to know.

'Why would we invade this God forsaken rock?' Asquith spat with a cackle.

'Then something's brought the Slitheen race here, what is it? What do you need from Earth' Craig asked, trying to help the Doctor, who smiled slightly at him.

''The Slitheen race'?' Asquith repeated in indignant amusement.

'Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer Day Slitheen at your service' Joseph, or rather Jocrassa, stated.

'So, you're family' the Doctor realised.

'It's a family business' Joseph pointed out with a grin.

'Then you're out to make a profit. How can you do that on a 'God forsaken rock'?' Rose asked harshly, at least on Earth the people didn't look like that. But the two Slitheen ignored her, focusing their attention on the Doctor instead.

'Ahhh... excuse me? Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability...?' Asquith inquired. That made very little sense.

'Is that what I said?' the Doctor asked nervously, he honestly couldn't remember his own threat!

'You're making it up!' Asquith sneered.

'Ah, well! Nice try. Harriet, have a drink. I think you're gonna need it' he grinned, holding the bottle out behind him, not taking his eyes of the Slitheen.

'You're meant to pass it to the left first' Craig whispered.

'Sorry' he said, passing it to Rose instead.

'Thanks' she said weakly.

'Now we can end this hunt... with a slaughter' Joseph hissed whilst Asquith chuckled. The pair flexed their claws menacingly at the four of them. Craig, Rose, and Harriet all looked at them in fear, but the Doctor merely folded his arms.

He flexes his claws menacingly. The Doctor folded his arms.

'Don't you think we should run?' Craig asked as he put himself in front of Rose. If sheets of skin, ghosts, and a being like the Grim Reaper couldn't get to his baby sister, he'd be damned if he'd allow these brutes to get their claws on her!

The Slitheen began to shuffle forward. The three humans back to back off, but the Doctor stayed rooted to the spot, completely unafraid.

'Fascinating history, Downing Street. Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mr. Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the cabinet room, if the cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain' he beamed, pulling off the silver casing of a box on the wall, revealing a white switch.

'End of lesson' he grinned as he pressed it. Instantly, huge steel shuttered slammed down, sealing all the windows and the doors. Craig turned around to look at the room properly. A long table with comfortable red leather chairs was the main feature, with smooth polished wood lining the walls.

'Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in' the Doctor grinned happily.

'And how do we get out?' Rose asked. After a pause, the Doctor's face fell.

'Ah' he said as he realised he hadn't thought of that.

'Fantastic' Craig sighed sarcastically.

**...**

**Yay! Part 1 of World War Three : ) So, tried to shift it all around as much as possible, but not much of consequence yet! It's kind of hard since it's really Mickey that saves the day, but I'm doing my best. After a load of reviews for the last chapter, I hope you can beat yourselfs so please read and review!**


	26. World War Three, Vinegar

**Hey, I thought I'd post the next chapter now rather then wait a few days. Since I only really do scenes from The Doctor, Rose, and Craig's persectives, this will only have sounds of the attack on Jackie and Mickey down the phone as they'd hear it, but I still think it's good ; ) As always, Doctor Who is not mine, but Craig Tyler entirely is!**

**...**

**World War Three – Vinegar**

Craig was not impressed, despite the Doctor pointing out he had at least got them to safety, but he failed to counter Craig's argument that he had got them all trapped, with aliens now running the country! Invasion seemed a likely option in his opinion. He was sitting at the table, pouring them all a drink of brandy. Normally he wasn't a comfort drinker or much of one at all, but with the day he was having, he was sure they could all use one.

The Doctor had dragged the body of the Secretary into the cupboard Harriet had found the human suit in. he leaned down over him, a sad expression on his face.

'What was his name?' he asked quietly.

'Which one?' Harriet asked, thinking he had meant one of the Slitheen. She had been looking through a large red case which had been left on the desk. Craig assumed it was the emergency protocols she had been talking about.

'This one, the secretary or whatever he was called' he clarified as she went over to him, sadly peering down at the body of the man who had been quite rude to her. But her face only held sadness; anyone could see she was such a kind woman.

'I don't know. I talked to him. I brought him a cup of coffee. I never asked his name' she said regrettably. The Doctor crossed the man's arms over his body.

'Sorry' he whispered, one again feeling as though he had fail someone, that he hadn't been able to save them. But he couldn't focus on that now, he needed to stop the Slitheen. He quickly strode out into the main room. He went over to Rose who had been busying herself looking for a way of communicating with the outside world.

'Right, what have we got? Any terminals? Anything?' he asked quickly.

'No. The place is antique. What I don't get, is when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?' Rose asked curiously, leaning against a cabinet as the Doctor soniced at the shutters over the windows, taking a scan.

'He's too slim, they're big old beasts, they need to fit inside big humans' the Doctor explained.

'But they're like eight feet tall, so how can they squeeze inside?' Craig asked.

'That's the device around their necks, those metal collars, creates a compression field, literally shrinks them down a little bit. That's why there's all that gas, it's a big exchange' he explained.

'Wish I had a compression field, I could fit a size smaller' Rose joked sarcastically, though Craig would admit she had a point, but then again, he was skinny enough anyway. But apparently Harriet thought her comment was a bit inappropriate.

'Excuse me, people are dead, this is not the time for making joke' she snipped.

'Sorry… you get used to this stuff when you're friends with him' she amended, indicating the Doctor, who was now busy scanning the walls with his sonic screwdriver.

'Well, that's a strange friendship the three of you share' she commented.

'It's very strange, but totally brilliant' Craig grinned and the Doctor briefly smiled at him before turning to Harriet.

'Harriet Jones, I've heard that name before, Harriet Jones. You're not famous for anything, are you?' he asked as he came to a stop.

'Huh! Hardly' she scoffed.

'Rings a bell, Harriet Jones…' he muttered, a thoughtful look on his face as though he was trying hard to remember something.

'Lifelong back bencher I'm afraid, and a fat lot of use I'm being now, the protocols are redundant, they list the people who can help and they're all dead downstairs' she said with a light sigh.

'Hasn't it got like, defence codes and things? Can we just launch a nuclear bomb at 'em?' Rose said, pretending to throw something. Harriet just stared at her.

'You're a very violent young woman…' Harriet commented after a few seconds of silence.

'Come on, let's have a look' Craig said, standing up and begin to flick through bits of paper.

'I'm serious! We could!' Rose argued.

'Well, there's nothing like that in here. Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it's kept secret by the United Nations' Harriet explained. Craig kept looking through them, but as he came to the third page, his eyes widened. It was a page explaining about what information had been acquired from satellite systems about aliens, but it wasn't the information that surprized him. It was the title of a computer file it listed. The BAD WOLF file, contain photographs of alien spacecrafts hovering in the earth's atmosphere at one point or another in history. They were there again, BAD WOLF, it was following him everywhere!

He hadn't even noticed that The Doctor had stopped scanning the mantelpiece with his sonic screwdriver to listen.

'Say that again' he ordered Harriet, who turned to face him as Craig placed the case back in front of her. None of them saw him quickly readjust his face from one of fear into curiosity.

'What, about the codes?' she wondered.

'Anything. All of it' he clarified. She was talking sense, he loved it when humans talked sense and about something useful!

'Um, well… the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a special resolution from the UN' she explained.

'Like that's every stopped them' Rose scoffed.

'Exactly, given our past record, and I voted against that, thank you very much. The codes have been taken out of the governments hands and given to the UN' Harriet carried on, whilst the Doctor looked deep in thought. Noticing this, Harriet spoke once more.

'Is it important?' she asked.

'Everything's important' was he reply, though his mind sounded far away.

'If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted. Listen to me, I'm saying 'Slitheen' as if it's normal' Harriet realised.

'What do they want, though?' Craig asked.

'Well, it's just one family so it's not an invasion. They don't want Slitheen world… they're out to make money, which means they want to use something, something here on Earth… some kind of asset' he thought aloud.

'Like what? Gold? Oil? Water?' Harriet said, thinking about substances found on Earth. Craig grinned, he could practically see the Doctor's fondness for this woman growing, she was good, very good!

'You're very good at this' he praised her.

'Thank you' she smiled, looking very pleased with the compliment.

'Harriet Jones. why do I know that name?' he wondered again. Suddenly Rose's phone went off, and all eyes snapped towards her.

'Oh! That's me' she stated, taking her phone out of her pocket.

'But we're sealed off, how did you get a signal?' Harriet asked curiously.

'He zapped our mobiles! Super phones' Craig chuckled.

'Then we can phone for help! You must have contacts' she stated, turning to look at the Doctor.

'Dead downstairs, yeah' he replied and her shoulders slumped, her little flicker of hope gone again.

'It's Mickey' Rose spoke up.

'Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we're busy' the Doctor snapped. This was no time to be dealing with Mickey the Idiot!

'For the last time, lay off him or I'll deck ya' Craig countered with, a glare in his eyes. He was so sick of the Doctor picking on him, he might actually follow that threat through.

'Yeah, he's not so stupid after all' Rose added, handing her phone over to the Doctor. He looked on the screen, shocked to see another Slitheen, covered in electricity.

'You'd better call him' he sighed. A moment later, Rose held the phone to her ear as Mickey picked it up.

'It's me, I got that photo, are you alright' she asked in concern.

'Oh great, laughing' he replied sarcastically.

'I know it must have been weird to see, one of them, an alien' she said, trying to sound reassuring.

'No, no, no, no, no, not just alien, but like, proper alien. All stinking, and wet, and disgusting. And more to the point, it wanted to kill us!' was his fearful reply.

'I could've died!' Jackie's voice shouted in the background.

'Is she alright, though? Don't put her on, just tell me' Rose wanted to know. But she never got the chance to find out as the Doctor snatched her phone from her, briskly walking around the desk.

'Is that Ricky? Don't talk, just shut up and go to your computer' he ordered.

'It's Mickey. And why should I?' was the indignant reply.

'Mickey the Idiot, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but eh, I need you' he sighed at the smug grin on Craig's face. Said blonde lightly nudged him in a 'told you so' kind of way.

'Bring up the UNIT website' the Doctor ordered, and the line went dead for a few moments. The Doctor put the phone of loudspeaker, placing it on the desk so they could hear better.

'It say's password' Mickey told them.

'Say again' the Doctor replied, having missed it due to some phone garble.

'It's asking for the password' he repeated.

'Buffalo, two F's, one L' he stated, humans always got that word wrong, it was like a species dyslexia trait.

'So, what's that website?' Jackie's voice asked.

'All the secret information known to mankind. See, they've known about aliens for years, they just kept us in the dark' Mickey answered her.

'Mickey, you were born in the dark' the Doctor huffed, only to find himself sprawled across the floor a moment later. Craig had pushed him over his foot, literally decking him.

'I've told you, leave him alone and to stop bullying him' Craig told him.

'Is this the time?' he asked weakly, looking up at the man leaning over him gloatingly.

'Maybe not, but it was worth it to see your face' Craig giggle, holding out a hand to help the Doctor up. Rose just laughed and even the Doctor chuckled. Harriet just looked at them in bewilderment.

'Thank you Craig. Password again' Mickey spoke up, amusement clear in his voice. He must had heard the thud the Doctor made against the floor.

'Just repeat it, every time' the Doctor replied.

'Big Ben, why did the Slitheen hit Big Ben?' the Doctor suddenly thought aloud.

'To gather the experts, a trap?' Craig suggested.

'That lot would've gathered for a weather balloon, you don't need to crash land in the middle of London' he replied wearily.

'The Slitheen were hiding, and then they put the entire planet on red alert, what would they do that for?' Rose added.

'Oh, listen to her' Jackie said scornfully.

'At least I'm trying!' Rose huffed in reply.

'Well, I've got a question if you don't mind. Because since that man walked into our lives, I have been attacked in the streets. I have had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room, and my children disappeared off the face of the Earth' she raged.

'I told you what happened, I showed you the Tardis' Craig countered.

'I'm talking to him. 'Cause I've seen this life of yours, Doctor. And maybe you get off on it. And maybe you think it's all clever and smart, but you tell me. Just answer me this, are my children safe?' she asked, and the Doctor wore a guilty expression on his face. No, they weren't, if he wanted them to be safe he'd tell them to run as fast as they could from him, but he was selfish, he wanted them by his side. That was how he saw himself.

'We're fine' Rose answered when the Doctor said nothing. He just kept staring intently at the phone.

'Are they safe? Will they always be safe? Can you promise me that?' she repeated. The Doctor glanced up at Rose and Craig, who looked back at him. The three just stared at each other.

'Well, what's the answer?' Jackie demanded after a few seconds of silence.

'We're in' Mickey said, breaking the moment. The Doctor instantly snapped back into action.

'Right then, on the left, there's a tab, an icon, little concentric circles, click on that' the Doctor order.

'What is it?' Mickey asked.

'The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it's transmitting that signal, now hush, let me work out what it's saying' he said, and they all fell silent.

'He'll have to answer me one day' Jackie stated, but it sounded as if Mickey hushed her.

'It's some sort of message' the Doctor murmured

'What does it say?' Harriet asked.

'Don't know, it's on a loop, keeps repeating' he replied. Suddenly down the phone came the sound of a doorbell being buzzed.

'Hush!' the Doctor snapped.

'That's not me, go and see who that is' Mickey clearly said the last part to Jackie.

'It's three o'clock in the morning' she pointed out.

'Well go and tell them that' Mickey's voice sounded irritated.

'It's beaming out into space, who's it for?' the Doctor wondered. They remained silently for a few moments, until Jackie's voice came back, and it sounded very distressed.

'It's him! It's the thing, it's the Slickeen!' she yelled.

'They've found us' Mickey said worriedly.

'Mickey, I need that signal' the Doctor said persistently, flinching at the outraged look Craig shot at him, he really needed to be a bit more sensitive towards their family.

'Never mind the signal, mum just get out! Get out! Get out!' Rose ordered.

'We can't, it's by the front door' Mickey told them.

'Oh, my God. It's unmasking. It's gonna kill us' he yelled in fear as a loud unearthly buzzing came down the line.

'There's got to be some way of stopping them!' Harriet shouted in anger

'You're supposed to be the expert, think of something!' she said, rounding on the Doctor.

'I'm trying!' he shot back.

'I'll take it on, Jackie. You just run. Don't look back. Just run' Mickey was saying to Jackie, and Craig throw the Doctor another look. He would admit, that in that moment, Mickey had shown him he could be brave. There were several loud crunching noises. It sounded as though the door was being shredded.

'That's our mother' Craig said to the Doctor, a very worried expression on his face. The Doctor looked at him for a moment, guilt on his face, before he jumped in action.

Right! If we're going to find their weakness, we need to find out where they're from, which planet. So, judging by their face and shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them? Information!' he ordered, pacing to the end of the table, looking at into space, deep in thought.

'They're green' Rose started.

'Yep, narrows it down' he replied.

'Uh, good sense of smell' she went on.

'Narrows it down' he told them.

'They can smell testosterone and hormones and adrenaline' Craig added.

'Narrows it down' he was met with.

'The compression technology' Harriet added.

'Narrows it down' he repeated.

'The spaceship in the Thames, you said slipstream engine?' Rose added uncertainly.

'Narrows it down' he said, proving she was correct.

'It's getting in!' Mickey cried out.

'Oh! They hunt like it's a ritual' Craig put in.

'Narrows it down' the Doctor said again.

'Wait a minute! Did you notice, when they fart, if you'll pardon the word, it doesn't just smell like a fart, if you'll pardon the word, it's something else, what is it, it's more like uh… um…' Harriet said, scrunching up her face as she tried to think of what it was.

'Bad breath!' Rose came up with.

'That's it!' Harriet beamed, clapping her hands.

'Calcium decay! Now that narrows it down!' the Doctor grinned, running around the table.

'We're getting there, mum!' Craig called down the phone.

'Too late!' Mickey yelled back.

'Calcium phosphate, organic calcium, living calcium, creatures made out of living calcium, what else, what else…' the Doctor tried to think.

'Their surnames are hyphenated' Craig came up with.

'YES, that all narrows it down to one planet! Raxacoricofallapatorius!' he grinned.

'You've got to be kidding' Craig laughed, that was the strangest and most ridiculous name possible.

'Oh, yeah, great. We could write 'em a letter' was Mickey's sarcastic reply.

'Get into the kitchen!' the Doctor ordered, and after a few yells from Jackie, the sounds of a door being barricaded could be heard.

'My God, it's going to rip us apart!' Jackie screamed.

'Calcium, recombined with compression field, ascetic acid. Vinegar!' the Doctor shouted happily.

'Just like Hannibal!' Harriet yelled, remembering the story of the famous explorer.

'Just like Hannibal. Mickey, have you got any vinegar?' the Doctor quickly asked.

'How should I know?' was the indignant reply.

'It's YOUR kitchen' Craig pointed out.

'Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf' Rose said, knowing that although it had been a year, no much would have changed.

'Give it here, what do you need?' Jackie asked, presumably having taken the phone off Mickey.

'Anything with vinegar!' the Doctor told her.

'Gherkins! Yeah! Pickled onions! Picked eggs!' she said happily, presumably mixing them all together.

'You kiss this man?' the Doctor asked teasingly to Rose.

'You bet she does' Craig grinned mischievously. The sounds of the kitchen door being ripped open sounded, followed by a few seconds silence. Then there was a resounding boom of an explosion and splattering of something. Craig winced as he imagined what that would be, aliens guts, yuck!

The Doctor, Rose, Craig and Harriet all breathed a sigh of relief.

'Hannibal' Rose said questioningly after a few moments.

'Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar' Craig put in.

'Oh. Well, there you go then' she replied as they all took a glass, raised it in a toast, and took a swig.

'Phew!' Craig grinned. At least Jackie and Mickey were safe, they could be a little better he supposed.

**...**

**And there's Vinegar! My favourite part of Word War Three, the episode and not my version ; ) So blasting through World War Three, I want it done so I can get onto the next episode, which might I say is going to be a special surprize! As always, please leave a Review : )**


	27. World War Three, The Only Way Out

**And here's the third part! I just want to say a big collective thanks for everyone who reviewed the last chapter, which is why I'm updating right now. So, Here's World War Three, Part 3! As usual, Doctor Who is not owned by me, but Craig Tyler is ; )**

**...**

**World War Three – The Only Way Out**

The four of them remained sitting at the table, pleased that they had at least found a way to stop the Slitheen. Now if only they could use it on the ones outside, but they had no vinegar with them! Mickey's voice suddenly made them jump, they had all quite forgotten that the line was still open.

'Listen to this' he said sourly. Then the voice of the normal Joseph came down the line. Mickey must have placed the phone next to the television.

'Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction, capable of being deployed within 45 seconds' his voice came down the line. He was clearly talking to the press, lying to them all..

'What?' the Doctor frowned in confusion.

'Our technicians can… baffle… the alien probes. But not for long. We are facing extinction. Unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship. I beg the United Nations, pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes! A nuclear strike at the heart of the ship is our only chance of survival. Because… from this moment on… it is my solemn duty to inform you… planet Earth is at war' Joseph said, and the irritating part was that he sounded genuine, or at least he would to a lot of normal people.

'He's making it up. There's no weapons up there, there's no threat. He just invented it' the Doctor said in annoyance.

'Do you think they'll believe him?' Harriet asked, worry lining her voice.

'They did last time' Rose pointed out.

'Wait, they put the planet of red alert, now this, it's like they want us to be scared' Craig thought aloud.

'Oh, genius as always Craig Tyler, That's why the Slitheen went for spectacle. They want the whole world panicking, because you lot, you get scared, you lash out' he explained.

'They release the defence codes…' Rose realised.

'And the Slitheen go nuclear' the Doctor spat.

'But why?' Harriet asked, trying to get her head around all of this, but it made no sense. The Doctor marched over to the door and opened the shutters. Several Slitheen were standing there, clearly guarding them. Margret, back in her skin suit, stood before them.

'You get the codes, release the missiles. But not into space because there's nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth, they retaliate, fight back. World War Three, whole planet gets nuked' he stated, not bothering with pretence, there was no time after all.

'And we can sit through it in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed. Just parked. They'll be two minutes away' she glowered mockingly at them.

'But you'll destroy the planet, this beautiful place. What for?' Harriet asked frowning at the vile woman.  
'Profit. That's what the signal is beaming into space, an advert' the Doctor stated.

'Sale of the century. We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it. Piece by piece. Radioactive chucks capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Doctor. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel' she grinned madly.

'At the cost of 6 billion lives' Craig snapped, glaring at her.

'Bargain' she scoffed, like she cared!

'Oh she's worse than Cassandra' Craig spat.

'Then I give you the choice, leave this planet or I'll stop you' the Doctor said in an even voice, but the Slitheen all burst out laughing.

'What? You? Trapped in your box?' Margret quipped with a cold sneer. But the Doctor didn't look remotely abashed, instead he just stared her out.

'Yes. Me.' He said. Margret laughed again, but nervously. The Doctor fixed her in his gaze and closed the shutters. Before they closed completely they could see the smirk fade from Margret's face.

They went back to the phone which was now playing the voice of Tom Hutchinson, once more they listened to the news channel.

'Yesterday saw the start of a brave new world. Today might see it end. The streets are deserted. Everyone's home, just waiting. As the future is decided in New York' he said before Mickey must have changed the channel, for Trinity Wells was now talking.

'It's midnight here in New York. The United Nations has gathered. England has provided them with absolute proof that the massive weapons of mass destruction do exist. The security council will be making a resolution in a matter of minutes. And once the codes are released, humanity's first interplanetary war begins' she stated. Suddenly Jackie was the one now talking.

'Alright, Doctor. I'm not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do.

'If we ferment the porch, we could make ascetic acid' Harriet spoke up, the brandy bottle in her hand. Craig was total impressed with that woman, she was almost like a female version of the Doctor!

'Mickey, any luck?' Rose asked. Whilst they had listened to Margret, Rose had asked Mickey to look up emergency numbers for people in UNIT.

'There's loads of emergency numbers, they're all on voicemail' he informed them. Harriet let out a sigh.

'Voicemail dooms us all' she said glumly, The Doctor was standing quietly with his arms folded, leaning against the wall away from the others. He appeared to be deep in thought.

'If we could just get out of here…' Rose complained.

'There's a way out' the Doctor said softly.

'What?' Rose questioned softly, as she and Craig both turned to face him.

'There's always been a way out' he said sadly. Craig really didn't like the tone of his voice but he had to know regardless.

'Then why don't we use it?' he asked. The Doctor didn't answer, instead he strode over to the table and leaned over to speak into the phone. He was clearly talking to Jackie.

'Because I can't guarantee your children will be safe' he stated.

'Don't you dare. Whatever it is, don't you dare' she said instantly, her usual snap in her voice when she was annoyed or scared.

'That's the thing, if I don't dare, everyone dies' he told her regrettably.

'Do it' Rose said calmly, and the Doctor looked up at her, his eyebrows raised.

'You don't even know what it is, you'd just let me?' he asked, amazed at just how much this little human girl trust him, he much he trusted in her.

'Yeah' she replied with simply. The Doctor's head turned toward Craig.

'Always' he answered the unasked question, and the Doctor let out a low sigh of amazement. They really were the best friends he had ever had.

'Please, Doctor. Please! they're my children, they're only kids!' Jackie pleaded with him.

'Oh Mum, we're not anymore. We're adults now, we can make our own choices, and I'd rather die doing what was right then let everybody die knowing I could have stop it' Craig said to her.

'You see, this is my life, Jackie, it's not fun, it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will' the Doctor added, though he did sound regrettable about it.

'Then what're you waiting for?' Rose asked, and once more he looked up to face them both.

'I could save the world but lose the two you' he whispered. The three of them stared at each other, until the intense moment was broken, this time by Harriet.

'Except it's not your decision, Doctor. It's mine' she said briskly.

'And who the hell are you?' Jackie demanded angrily. How dare this woman just assume she can decide her children's fate!

'Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people, for the people, and on behalf of the people I command you. Do it' she ordered. The Doctor, Craig, and Rose all looked surprized for a moment, before they all broke out in a grin, that woman was just, fantastic! They quickly all snapped back into action.

'How do we get out?' Rose immediately asked. The Doctor opened the briefcase containing the emergency protocols rather than answering.

'We don't. We stay here' he said after a few moments, as he shuffled through the protocols and then turned to the phone to address Mickey.

'Use the buffalo password, it overrides everything' he ordered.

'What're you doing?' Jackie asked, sounding almost desperate, like she was begging him to stop.

'Hacking into the Royal Navy' he answered, like he couldn't believe it himself. It was a few moments before he spoke again.

'We're in. Here it is, uh… H.M.S. Taurean, Trafalgar Class Submarine, 10 miles off the coast of Plymouth' he was clearly reading off his computer screen.

'Right, we need to select a missile' the Doctor explained.

'We can't go nuclear, we don't have the defence codes' Mickey pointed out.

'We don't need it, all we need is an ordinary missile. What's the first category?' the Doctor asked.

'Sub Harpoon, UGMA4A' Mickey replied.

'That's the one. Select' the Doctor ordered him.

'I could stop you' Jackie's voice suddenly said, she said the words, but she lacked true motivation behind them, she knew what they were doing was right, even if she didn't want to admit it.

'Do it, then' Mickey said to her. There was a moment of silence, followed by a sigh by Jackie. She clearly hadn't do anything to stop him.

'Ready for this?' the Doctor asked.

'Yeah' Mickey said softly after a few more quiet seconds.

'Mickey the Idiot. The world is in your hands. Fire' the Doctor said, remarkably calm given the circumstances. The sound of a mouse button clicking could be heard.

'Oh, my God' Jackie gasped. She was about to lose her children all over again!

Harriet tapped on the steel shutters, wondering if they would protect them from the threat.

'How solid are these?' she asked.

'Not solid enough, built for short range attack, nothing this big' thee Doctor reply, his voice sounding dead. He had given up, Harriet sighed, it looked like she had too. Rose too was looking at the ground sadly. Craig stood up, his voice and stance full of determination.

'You know something, I refuse to die in here, I survived the end of the world and the Titanic, I'm not letting some big bog monsters drag me down, I'm riding this one out!' he yelled, hurrying over to the cupboard door.

'It's like what they say about earthquakes, you can survive 'em by standing under a doorframe. Now this cupboard's small so it's strong. Come and help me! Come on!' he ordered Harriet and Rose, both who hurried over to help him.

'It's on radar. Counter defence 556' Mickey told them.

'Stop them intercepting it' the Doctor told them, watching as Craig, Rose, and Harriet moved a small table out of the cupboard, along with the secretaries' body. They placed it respectfully onto the main table.

'I'm doing it now' Mickey replied, as the Doctor ripped the mobile of the speaker phone.

'Good boy' he cheered as he hurried over to the cupboard.

'556 neutralized' Mickey told him.

As the four of them bundled into the cupboard, the sounds of a fire alarm sounding went off. Clearly the army had discovered the missile was heading for the building.

They crouched in a corner, Craig right in the corner, Rose curled into his arm. His other hand was holding the Doctor's who tightly gripped his. Harriet was on Rose's other side, holding her hand.

'Nice knowing the three of you' she said simply. It would be there any second.

'Good luck' Rose whispered, as there was a massive explosion from outside. The entire room begin to spin as it was thrown through the air. The four of them bounced around like ragdolls, tumbling and falling for several minutes until finally it stopped. They looked at each other before breaking into laughter. Once again, they had made it when it seemed so impossible, and it was great!

'HA! Once again, the Tylers and the Doctor, surviving their certain doom' the Doctor grinned as he forced the door open. It was slightly stuck, but as they all clambered out, they guessed that had to do with the fact that the building had been reduced to nothing but a massive pile of rubble, some of it smoking slightly. Rose and Craig let out a laugh, they had destroyed Downing Street, on top of everything that day, they had blown up Downing Street. It wasn't long before they were both in hysterics and even Harriet laughed along with them.

Suddenly the sergeant from earlier clambered over the rubble towards them, a concerned expression on his face.

'Are you alright?' he asked, and Harriet immediately flashed her ID Card at him.

'Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North. I want you to contact UN immediately, tell the ambassadors the crisis is over and they can step down. Go on, tell the news!' her told him quickly, whilst the Doctor, Rose and Craig just smiled a behind her back.

'Yes, ma'am' he said before hurrying away again.

'Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out. Oh, Lord! We haven't even got a Prime Minister!' Harriet gasped.

'Well, maybe you should have a go' the Doctor suggested with a smile.

'Me? I'm only a back-bencher' Harriet said with a laugh.

'No you're not, you're brilliant, you showed that today! You'd have my vote' Craig beamed at her.

'I'd vote for ya too!' Rose added with a grin.

'Now, don't be silly' she said half seriously, half smiling. The three of them just grinned at her.

'Look, I'd better go and see if I can help' she said before climbing over the rubble, towards a crowd of people in the distance.

'Hang on! The Earth is safe! Sergeant!' she was shouting over the crowds as she got further away. The three of them walked slowly after her.

'I thought I knew the name, Harriet Jones, future Prime Minister. Elected for three successive terms, the architect of Britain's Golden Age' the Doctor grinned as Harriet made her way over to the cameras and the ambulances.

'The crisis has passed! Ladies and Gentlemen, I have something to say to you all! Here today! Mankind stands tall… proud… and undefeated. God bless the human race' she said beaming at the cameras, their accompanying journalists immediately beginning to ask questions.

'Come on, time I got you home, I'm sure Jackie will want to see you both' the Doctor smiled.

'So, we've saved the world once again' Rose pointed out with a smile.

'We're making it a habit' Craig grinned as the three of them set off, finally going back them home.

**...**

**And there's 'The Only Way Out'. Now before anybody asks, this, like my other 'episodes' will have four chapters, it's just that with this story, a lot of the screen time is focused on Mickey, Jackie, or the Slitheen, and I only write the scenes including or from The Doctor, Rose, or Craig's persectives, so although it seems like the adventure is over now, there's still one more chapter left, which really is just a bit of rounding off smoothly and fun ; ) It's called Dinner at the Tylers, and is personally my favourite bit of this 'episode' Please feel free to leave a review as I love reading them!**


	28. World War Three, Dinner at the Tylers

**And as promised, here's Dinner at the Tylers. I really only added this because I needed a fourth World War Three chapter, but I actually really love it. It shows a bit of a move playful side to Craig, and losing side to the Doctor, and a positive change in the ever amazing Jackie Tyler : ) As always I don't own Doctor Who, but I do own Craig Tyler!**

**...**

**World War Three – Dinner at the Tylers**

Craig and Rose went into their flat together, and were immediately swept up into a big hug from a very relieved Jackie. They all closed their eyes, happy to be together again. The doctor had left them to have some privacy he had said, whilst he had gone to deal with something else. Jackie soon went to have a shower, for she was covered in green sticky goo, it must have been when the Slitheen exploded, whilst Craig went to go get changed and Rose set herself down in the living room. A few moments later Craig came in and sat opposite her. He was now wearing a green hoodie over a light blue T-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans over his black trainers.

'So, what are we going to do?' he asked straight away, elaborating when Rose looked confused.

'About Mum, we can't take her with us, but I don't want to stop either' he admitted in a soft voice.

'Yeah, I can't really just slip back into my old life either, my relationship with Mickey is practically kaput, and well, after seeing all this, I can't go back to being a shop girl' she stated.

'She'll be heartbroken; we've got to do something for her… I know, what if we give her a super phone, and we'll promised to visit a lot, and make sure we don't stay away for a year again' he thought of. Neither of them noticed that Jackie had slipped into the room. She was wearing pale blue jeans and a pink hoodie, her blonde hair flowing over her shoulders.

'You're both going to go with him again aren't you' she sighed and they both jumped.

'I'm… I'm sorry Mum but we have too' Craig replied as she sat down on the sofa next to him.

'But it's not safe' she told them.

'No, it isn't, but I promise I'll take care of Rose no matter what' he said sincerely.

'And what about you' she demanded.

'I have the Doctor, I know you don't trust him Mum, but I've seen what he can do, he always does what's right, even if it pains him to do it. He's the last of his kind, he needs somebody with him, and that's me and Rose' he told her, and she sighed again.

'Alright, ok you can go with him' she finally said after a few moments. Without saying a word, Craig and Rose both pulled her into another hug, and the three of the stayed like that for some time.

…

The doctor knocked on the door of a house just passed the shop of the Powell Estate. He waited patiently as the door opened. Standing on the other side was a small kid with brown hair, blue eyes, and a cheeky grin on his face. He was only about ten years old.

'Jonny Watson?' he asked.

'Who wants to know' was the cheeky reply, attitude dripping from his voice.

'The owner of the blue box you sprayed' he growled, grabbing the kid's T-shirt by the back of his neck.

'Oi get off me, argh' he tried the push the Doctor off as he dragged him down the street but to no avail.

'Now, I want you to clean this off' he ordered, pointing at the BAD WOLF phrase over the Tardis.

'Or what?' Jonny spat smugly. Grinning, the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver, and aimed it at a street light. It quickly sparked dangerously. And when the Doctor pointed it at Jonny, he paled and held his hands up in surrender.

'Alright, alright I'll clean it off' he all but shrieked, rushing back to his house to get some cleaning supplies. The Doctor chuckled slightly, before he heard a noise behind him, though when he turned he saw it was only Mickey sitting atop a bin, a newspaper in hand.

'So, what will you do now' the Doctor asked. Craig was right, Mickey wasn't as bad as he had thought, he should try to make it up with him.

'No idea, but look at this though, it's unbelievable' he said, revealing the front page of the newspaper, just as Jonny returned and immediately began scrubbing at the Tardis.

The Doctor chuckled at the headline 'Alien Hoax?'

'How can they do that, we all saw it' Mickey protested.

'You're just not ready, you're happy to believe in something invisible, but if it's there before your eyes, nope, can't see it. There's a scientific explanation for that, you're thick' he grinned and Mickey laughed.

'I guess we're all just idiots' he chuckled.

'Well, maybe not all of you' he smiled as him. Mickey had proved his worth today, even he couldn't deny that, as much as he would like too.

'Yeah?' he grinned as the Doctor nodded.

'Sir… Sir I've finished' Jonny stammered out, and turning the Doctor smiled as he saw the words had successfully been washed off, leaving no mark.

'Good boy, now don't do it again, and hop it' he ordered, and Jonny instantly fled. The Doctor just grinned.

'You know, if you're concerned about Rose, you could always come with us, I could do with a laugh' he grinned. but Mickey just shook his head.

'Nah, Rose and Craig might be able to live a life like that, but everything today, I couldn't take that, but please don't tell her I said that' he added hastily.

'Alright, Craig would probably slay me if I did, but take this with you' he said, pulling a CD out of his pocket. He had had the Tardis make it for him, she was a clever girl!

'What does this do' Mickey asked as he took it.

'It's a virus, it'll destroy any mention of me, I'll cease to exist' he grinned, but Mickey looked confused.

'Why do you want that?' he asked puzzled.

'Because you and Jackie were right, I am dangerous' he said softly.

'Then how can you take them with you' Mickey asked.

'Because they make me better, more, well human'

'And human's good' Mickey laughed.

'Human beings. You might be thick, but you're hearts are like gold, you're all capable of being amazement, and Rose and Craig Tyler as the pinnacle of amazingness' he smiled fondly.

…

Jackie had gone into the kitchen to make some tea whilst Craig had switched on the news to see what was happening now. He was pretty sure that all the trouble was over now, but it needed to be checked. He smiled when Harriet Jones came onto the screen. It was a repeat of her speech from earlier in the afternoon. Jackie came into the room and let out a disgusted noise.

'Harriet Jones. Who does she think she is? Look at her! Taking all the credit. Should be you on there. My amazing son and fantastic daughter saved the world!' she shouted at the television

'I think the Doctor helped a bit…' Rose added.

'Oh, alright then. Him too. You should all be given knighthoods' she smiled proudly.

'That's not the way he does things. No fuss, he just… moves on. He's not that bad if you gave him a chance' Craig told her.

'Well, if you trust him, plus he's good in a crisis, I'll give him that' she admitted reluctantly.

'Oh! Now the world has changed, you're saying nice things about him' Rose smirked whilst Craig laughed.

'Well, I reckon I've got no choice! There's no getting rid of him since you're infatuated and Craig won't hear a word against him' she countered. Craig was in hysterics be the look on Rose's face.

'I'm not infatuated…' she said, maybe convincing herself but not her mother and certainly not her brother.

'What does he eat?' Jackie suddenly asked.

'How do you mean?' Rose asked quietly.

'I was gonna do shepherd's pie' Rose and Craig both sniggered at this.

'All of us. A proper sit down. 'Cause… I'm ready to listen. I wanna learn about you and him and that life you lead. Only, I dunno, he's an alien. For all I know, he eats grass and safety pins and things' she said, making a good point.

'He'll have shepherd pie. You're gonna cook for him?' Craig asked unbelievingly.

'What's wrong with that?' she demanded.

'He's finally met his match' Rose whispered loudly.

'Oh… You're not too old for a slap, you know' Jackie chuckled. Craig burst into laughter again as Rose giggled. Jackie got up and went into the kitchen.

'So, you'd better call me up and come home often, I'd like to hear about these adventures of yours' Jackie called back to them.

'Yeah, we will, in fact we thought we'd get the doctor to zap your phone so you can call us wherever and whenever we are' Rose replied.

'Yeah, I'd like that, I'll just have to make sure not to call to often or you'll get sick of me' she chuckled.

'Speaking of the Doctor, I'll go get him' Craig said, standing up and heading out the front door, just as Rose's mobile rang.

…

Right, I'll be a couple of hours, then we can go' the Doctor said as soon as Rose answered her phone. He was inside the Tardis, and had just set it up so that the Tardis would beam a signal to cover the Slitheen's advert. It would cause too many problems to think of if even more aliens turned up today!

'You've got a phone?' Rose asked incredulously

'You think I can travel through space and time and I haven't got a phone?' he laughed loudly. He didn't notice as Craig silently slipped into the Tardis.

Like I said, couple of hours… I've just got to send out this dispersal…' he said as he pressed a few buttons.

'There you go. That's cancelling out the Slitheen's advert in case any bargain hunters turn up' he grinned.

'My mother's cooking' she replied with.

'Good! Put her on a slow heat and let her simmer' he joked, and Craig smirked at the comment, but the Doctor had still yet to see him.

'She's cooking tea. For us' she elaborated.

'I don't do that' he said firmly.

'She wants to get to know you' she argued.

'Tough! I've got better things to do!' he countered.

'It's just tea' she said softly.

'Not to me it isn't' he replied, and it wasn't. Tea was something for people who were domestic, and that would never be him.

'She's my mother' Rose argued.

'Well, she's not mine!' the Doctor pointed out.

'That's not fair!' she cried.

'Well, you can stay there if you want!' he snapped, before realising what he had said. He wanted them both to stay! Why'd he have to say that?! He needed to offer her a choice, and he knew exactly what to say now.

'But right now there's this plasma storm brewing in the horse head nebula Fires are burning 10 million miles wide. I could fly the TARDIS right into the heart of it then ride the shock wave all the way out, hurtle right across the sky and end up anywhere' he said enticingly.

'Your choice' he said as he hung up. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Craig started talking.

'That was a beautiful speech Doctor, but there's no choice, I'm staying for tea, and so are you' he said firmly, striding over to him.

'Oh no I'm not' the Doctor folded his arms.

'I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this back you're leaving me no choice' Craig sighed softly, a false sad expression on his face. The Doctor looked at him in puzzle, turning away as the Tardis beeped. Craig suddenly jumped forwards and wrapped his arms around him, pulling himself onto the Doctor's back. He staggered for a moment as he was forced to give Craig a piggy back, and began howling with laughter as Craig started furiously tickling him.

'CRAIG… AHAHAHA… CRAIG STOP IT' he yelled as Craig started laughing too. He fell to the ground and Craig sat on his back, keeping him beneath him.

'Stay for tea!' Craig demanded, not stopping for a moment.

'I CAN'T, I WON'T' the Doctor protested between laughs.

'Then I'm not stopping' he giggled.

'ALRIGHT I'LL STAY, I'LL STAY' he gave in.

'No tricks?' Craig wanted to be sure.

'NO TRICKS' he howled, sighing and panting with relieve when Craig finally stopped and let him up.

'Right then, March' he ordered, pulling the Doctor to his feet and dragging him out the door.

'Please Craig, don't do this' the Doctor pouted, begged and puppy dog eyed all the way back to the flat.

'Nope, you brought us back late, now it's time to face the music' he grinned.

'She slapped me!' he protested. That was punishment enough in his book.

'And…' Craig grinned wickedly, and the Doctor sighed, giving up. These humans, how did they do this to him?

…

It wasn't as bad as he had expected, it was so much worse! He'd had to sit there, listening to Craig and Rose telling their mother about their adventures so far, although he'd admit she was a good audience. She gasped in all the right places, laughed, and cheered when she heard how they had defeated Cassandra and the Trickster. Then she had turned solemn and had threatened him with something every male shall be terrified of if he failed to keep her children safe. He'd wanted to countered with the fact that she was a terrible cook, but felt it best not to considering how hard she could slap, and if she didn't, he knew Craig might.

He had had a terrible moment in which he had been left alone with Jackie whilst Rose and Craig had left to pack some of their stuff up. He had tried to make some small talk with her, and had upgraded her phone to be like Rose's and Craig's so she could stay in contact with them, but her answers were cold, her eyes sharp. He could hardly blame her, after all he was taking her children away from her, but he promised her on anything he was that he'd look after them, they would always be put first, and finally she gave a sharp nod, indicating she believed him.

Finally Craig and Rose had returned and the four of them had went down to the Tardis, where Mickey met up with them.

'Ok, well, I guess this is goodbye for now' Jackie said softly, a few tears in her eyes.

'Oh don't Mum, it's not goodbye, we'll come and see you all the time' Rose put her arms around her. Jackie nodded a sad nod.

'Love you Mum, I'll call a lot alright' Craig said as he wrapped an arm around her.

'And what about you, you could come with us, there's plenty of room' Rose grinned at Mickey. The Doctor decided to save the poor boy some embarrassment for a change.

'No chance, he's ah, a liability, I'm not having him on board' he said firmly.

'We'd all be dead without him' Rose pointed out.

'My decision is final' he said firmly. Rose turned back to Mickey.

'Sorry' she whispered. They kissed briefly, and Mickey gave a small wave as she backed away.

Craig said one final goodbye to Jackie, waved at Mickey before passing the Doctor, carrying his and Rose's bags into the Tardis. Rose came in after him, and with a final nod, so did the Doctor, going straight to the controls. The three of them gave each other a small smile, as the Tardis took them onwards.

**...**

**Yay! That's another one down! So tell me what you think of my World War Three in a review, and what you think of my fluffy little chapter at the end : ) I love this chapter, it shows that Craig still has some childish qualities in him. I want him to act mature and protective mostly, but having some childish parts too shows his is fun and still young ; ) Anyway, my next chapter will be a special surprize, oooh, so to find out what it is, get reviewing my faithful readers : ) **


	29. The Clockwise Man, A Fair Bit Missing

**Yoohoo! I promised a surprize, and here it is, The Clockwise Man, my way! Now one thing that I find somewhat annoying about other season rewrites is that the author only follows the episodes of the season, which although can be written brilliantly, also lacks the personal touch, remember, fanfiction is to make it your own! So I've decided not only to add in my own stories now and then, but also include the novelisations of Doctor Who, and since The Clockwise comes first, here it is. Now I would also like to point out I haven't read it, and I can't find it online anywhere, so I had to use the plot on Wikipedia and go from there. That's made ownership somwhat confusing, but here's my disclaime; I DO NOT own Doctor Who, OR The Clockwise Man book. I used its plot and character, but described and wrote this version of it myself. Craig Tyler is owned by me ; ) Hope everyone likes this, and please review!**

**...**

**The Clockwise Man**

**The Clockwise Man – A Fair Bit Missing**

'I'm tell ya, you're both gonna love it' the Doctor was grinning as the Tardis hurtled through the vortex. He had had a fantastic idea; they were all going to love seeing this!

'Yeah, but I thought more about a different planet. We've had the future on an Observation Deck, and the Past in Cardiff and the Titanic, then at home, I want a planet' Craig complained. He was holding onto one of the coral struts, Rose and the Doctor was both gripping the controls.

'Ok, I'll make you a deal, let's go to mine first, and then I'll take you to a new planet' he grinned, and Craig nodded, before they were all thrown to the ground as the Tardis landed. As always they all laughed as they hopped back up to the feet, rushing for the doors. Rose was the first on out, and she wrinkled her nose slightly as she looked around. The Tardis had landed in a dusty old scrapyard. Piles of rusty metal objects were piled high, surrounded by a large wooden fence you couldn't see over. An iron gate stood before them. It was night time, the stars were casting a lot of light down, making long creeping shadows.

'Oh Doctor, you take us to such nice places' Craig sighed.

'Yeah, what are we meant to love about a junkyard like this' Rose said disdainfully.

'We're here in London to see something special, the British Empire Exhibition!' the Doctor beamed.

'The what?' Rose asked, history had been more Craig's thing than her.

'It was an exhibition held in 1924 and 1925, something to do with trains and aeroplanes or something, I think' Craig explained.

'Yep, basic it's a railway museum, thought it might be worth a look, so 'Old' history in its prime, 1924' the Doctor grinned.

'Well, let's go then, you might actually be right, it sounds fun' Rose smiled as the three of them headed for the gates. They were just about to exit when a cry echoed through the night.

'This way!' the Doctor immediately jumped into action, following the sound of a men pleading for help. they rounded a corner into a terrace street, several Victorian style lights were on, illumination the path. They hurried down it, stopping near an alley where the noise was coming from.

A man in a servant's outfit was lying on the ground, breathing heavily, and something else was moving away, walking kind of mechanically, fading into the shadows. The Doctor went to follow, but since he couldn't see where it had gone, went back to the man Rose and Craig were helping to his feet. He was a man in his thirties, baling, and had dark green eyes behind his square shaped glasses. His servant's suit was dusty from the pavement, his hands were drench black from a lot of dripping oil, and he had a strange marking on his neck. A sort of slash like cut, with silvery bits of rust shining over it, like he had been cut with something metal.

'Are you alright mate' Craig asked.

'Yes, yes thank you, I thought he was going to kill me' the man panted.

'Did you see what it looked like?' the Doctor wanted to know.

'No, no I never saw his face' he said regrettably. He sounded quite scared still.

'What's your name?' Craig asked to be kind.

'Peter, Peter Dickson' Peter introduced himself.

'It's alright Peter, my names Craig, Craig Tyler, that the Doctor and this is my sister Rose' he pointed them all out in turn.

'Thank you all, I can manage now, I must get back to my lord's house, I fear they may be in danger' Peter said worriedly, and the Doctor raise an eyebrow in curiously. Never mind the exhibition, this sounded much more important and interesting.

'Why's that' he asked as Peter began walking, the three travellers falling in line with him. He was heading towards a larger house, three stories in height and quite long, deep red in the colour of its bricks with a black roof, a large chimney at the right end. It seemed a grand place, with a neatly came garden behind a large black iron fence.

'That man, he kept asking my questions about the guests' Peter stated.

'Guests?' Rose questioned, wondering what guests these were.

'Yes, my lord is hosting a social gathering for several foreign political members, current and past. He is Sir George Harding, I am the head of the staff there, I need to warn the family about this, it may be nothing but…' he said uneasily.

'But it's better not to take the chance' the Doctor finished for him, as they came to the steps in front of the house. It led to a shiny black door, a golden handle in place.

'Exactly, oh please, come on in' he offered, as he unlocked the door and led them inside. It was painted a cream colour with brown and red carpeting. Several tables lined one of the walls with small golden statues and pictures frames on them. A hat stand stood near the door, along with an umbrella stand. A far of door appeared to lead to the kitchen, next to a grand flight of stairs.

'Very nice' the Doctor commented.

'Indeed, I must go to summon my lord, please wait here for my return' Peter requested.

'Sorry but do you mind if I wash my hands' Rose asked, she hands had got covered in oil when she had helped Peter up. Craig looked down at his own, glad to see he had managed to avoid getting hit by the oil.

'Yes of cause Miss, it's just upstairs on the left' he nodded, and with a grateful smile, Rose set off up the stairs.

…

Peter had left the two of them alone, and the Doctor and Craig stood patiently in the doorway.

'So then, I guess the exhibition's off' Craig grinned and the Doctor smirked at him.

'Nothing ever seems to go to plan' he laughed and Craig chuckled, that was so true!

'So, you think it's something dodgy or just a simple mugging we interrupted' Craig wondered.

'Well, whether we go we seem to run into something alien, but it's more fun that way' he grinned and Craig nodded.

'What was with the oil though' he wondered aloud. Just then Peter and a new man reappeared, along with a woman. The man was taller than Craig, with jet black hair and he was wearing a long flowing suit, navy blue and gold in colour. He was clearly the man in charge around here, his hard expression showed that. The woman was presumable his wife, as his arms was wrapped around her waist. She was tall and slender, wearing a deep purple dress that fell to the ground, her light brown hair tied back in a bun with loose curls flowing down the back of her neck. She had brown eyes and a warm smile.

'Sir, Ma'am, might I introduce The Doctor and Mr Craig Tyler, Miss Rose Tyler has gone to wash her hands, she shall be down shortly. This is my lord Sir George Harding, and his wife, Lady Anna Harding' Peter introduced them. He had dusted off his suit and washed his own hands.

'Good to meet you, I must thank you for coming to Peter's aid' George smiled gratefully.

'Thank you both, though the timing couldn't be worse, at least half of the guests have already arrived' Anna pointed out.

'Would you lie to join the festivities' George offered.

'Oh thank you for the offer, but my travelling companions and I have come to see the Empire Exhibition, we really must be going' the Doctor said quickly.

'Well, thank you again, Peter, can I leave you to show them out when Miss Tyler returns' George said to his head staff member, who quickly nodded.

'Farewell, and thank you once more' Anna said as the pair retreated into the living room, where the sounds of the guests were floating out from. The pair of them fell back into comfortable silence as they waited for Rose.

…

Rose had gone upstairs and into a very stylish bathroom, well style for the 1920's anyway. Golden taps lined the sink and bath, and all the unfurnishing was of pure white. It was very well came, and decorated with little flowers. She quickly washed her hands and went back into the corridor, only to frown. She could have sworn it was lighter when she had come up. She wondered down the corridor, and noticed a family photo on the wall. It showed a man with jet black hair smiling proudly, a young woman with light brown hair hanging off his arm. They looked just cute together. In-between them stood a small boy with his mother's light brown hair and a small button nose. His cheeks were dusted with light freckles. He looked just like her. Strangely, nothing of the man seemed to resemble him. She jumped when a young boy's voice talked from behind her.

'Who are you, are you one of the guests' and whipping around, she almost stumbled, she saw it was the boy from the photo.

'Oh, sorry no, I came here with Peter, I only came up to wash my hands but I can't find the way back to where I came' she explained.

'Well, you're in the gallery right now' he pointed at several other photographs and paintings on the walls. She let out a low whistle when she saw an impressive picture of a wolf howling at a full moon, it was painted in an almost Van Gogh style.

'Yeah, that one's my favourite, it's called BAD WOLF, nobody's sure who painted it though' the boy said when he saw the painting she was looking at.

'Yeah, it's good. Sorry I didn't introduce myself, my name's Rose' she smiled as she turned back to him.

'I'm Fredrick, but everyone calls me Freddie' he grinned.

'Hi, anyway, I really must be going, could you show me the way out?' she asked, and he quickly nodded.

'The parties down stairs under us in the Library, the stairs are just over here' he said, leading her over to them. Smiling, she said goodbye with a little wave, and headed back down them, glad to see Craig and the Doctor waiting at the bottom for her.

'Right then, ready to go?' the Doctor asked as she joined them.

'Yep, where too?' she replied.

'He wants us to go onto the Exhibition' Craig grinned.

'Nope, it's gonna have to wait, I'm curious about this family now, and why some creep in the shadows wants to know about the guests here' the Doctor smiled.

'Then why tell them we were going to the exhibition' Craig puzzled.

'Well, otherwise we'd look rude' the Doctor shrugged as they left through the door and began walking back through the streets.

'So how do we found out more about them by leaving' Rose asked in confusion, surely by staying they'd be more likely to found out more.

'You're going to look them up on the Tardis, like you did for Jack and Rosie?' Craig thought as they rounded the corner. The junkyard was back in sight, but the gates were now locked.

'Exactly' the Doctor beamed as he brought out the Sonic and pointed it at the chain binding the gates. It soon clicked and fell away, only to reveal an empty scrape yard. The Tardis was nowhere in sight.

'Oh you've got to be kidding' Craig groaned as the Doctor ran over, standing on the spot it had been parked on and looking around.

'Where's it gone' Rose asked.

'No idea' the Doctor said grimly. They needed to find it, without it they were trapped in this era.

…

The Doctor had decided that the best way to find the Tardis was to just look around, and so the three of them had split up and went into the streets surrounding the scrapyard, but when they met up an hour later now of them had had any luck.

'So what now then?' Rose sighed as the three began walking through the street together now.

'I guess we should go back to George's house, see if anybody has seen anything strange' the doctor shrugged.

'Do you think this has anything to do with the guy who attacked Peter' Craig wondered aloud.

'Maybe' the Doctor said in a distance sound voice. The Tardis was the only thing he had left, other than Rose and Craig and they weren't really his, so he just had to get her back! He quickly rapped on the door, being met with a rather confused looking Peter when he opened it.

'Doctor, Rose, Craig, why are you back here?' he asked in confusion. The Doctor was about to explain when a voice from behind them interrupted them. A woman was climbing out of a car she had just pulled up in. she had fiery red hair and wearing a shimmering silk red dress cut to just below her knees, clinging to her figure nicely. On her face she wore a mask in the shape of a butterfly, gold in colour. Only her blue eyes and mouth are visible.

'So sorry I'm late Peter, traffic was terrible' she said in a posh London accent.

'Ah, might I introduce Melissa Heart' he smiled at her 'This is the Doctor, Mr Craig Tyler, and Miss Rose Tyler'

'Well hello Sir Doctor, charmed Mr and Miss Tyler, simply charms' she added. She was looking intently at the Doctor who appeared to gulp, whilst Craig quickly stifled a laugh. Rose merely glared at the less than warm greeting she and Craig had received. The Doctor quickly shrugged off his jacket as Peter quickly lead them all into the living room, where they were met with many people dressed up in masks like Melissa's, all in bright colours and styles. George and Anna were entertaining their friends with talk of politics and old stories, whilst wine was rapidly flowing.

'Peter, we were wondering if you had seen anything strange lately. Our travel method and lodgings have vanished and we believe it could be related to your attack earlier this evening' the Doctor said to him as Melissa drifted off into the party, though she kept looking over at the Doctor. A guest appeared to have overheard him as he suddenly walked over to them, talking to the Doctor. He was a good looking young man with dark hair and a black stubbly beard. He was wearing a white suit, and had a wolf shaped mask, revealing his green eyes, but he took it off as he came over.

'Sorry, I couldn't help over hearing, but if you need a place to stay you can come to the Imperial Club, I'd vouch for you' he smiled.

'Sorry, who are you' Craig asked, it seemed strange to him to offer help without even giving your name.

'Oh of course, I'm Repple' Repple grinned at them.

'And why would you need to vouch for us' the Doctor wanted to know.

'The conspiracy of course, see that boy' he said, surprised they didn't know already, pointing at Freddie.

'He is the rightful Tsar of Russia, it seems somebody is out to get him, and I can't help him' Repple sighed.

'Why not' Craig asked curiously

'I was previously the leader of Dastaria, however I have been deposed, Freddie is practically on his own' Repple admitted.

'The whole thing's odd' the Doctor commented.

'Trouble?' Craig asked.

'Could be; think about it, Freddie's important to Russia, which makes him important in London too. If something happened to him, it could spark a war between the two' he whispered.

'And alter history, perfect' Craig sighed. This change of history into a new, worse one, was getting old fast. The Doctor was right; nothing was safe when it came to time travel.

'So what's this Imperial Club' Rose asked to change the subject.

'It's basically a fancy hotel' Repple smiled at her.

'Alright, let's go then' Craig grinned. as they went into the hall, the Doctor went to the hat stand to retrieve his jacket. He frowned when he couldn't find it amongst the other coats.

'I can't believe this, first the Tardis, now my leather jacket' he complained. Oddly, he looked more concerned about his jacket then their way out of 1924!

Had they not been so distracted, one of them might have noticed a certain red haired woman had slipped out the door and was driving away.

**...**

**Yay! Part one of my surprize that's no longer a surprize! Anyway, I hope you like this, and just so you know, the Bad Wolf painting was my own idea. I just feel it's time for Rose to have some kind of small Bad Wolf moments, but all will be revealed as to why Craig is spotting it so early, promise ; ) I hope you like The Clockwise Man so far, and please review your thoughts and opinions about it!**


	30. The Clockwise Man, Standing Still

**Hello! Since I've had a fantastic day today, I thought I'd upload ahead of plan, so here's 'Standing Still' of The Clockwise Man, and with no Tardis they have no choice, ooops... ; ) Hope you like it, and the entire story so far! I do not own Doctor Who or The Clockwise Man, I used its plot to write this version, and as always Craig Tyler belongs to me ; )**

**...**

**The Clockwise Man – Standing Still**

Repple had suggested that they walk to the Imperial Club, the Doctor kept complaining about his jacket all the way. Craig had pointed out that he should be more bothered about the Tardis but it did no good, that jacket clearly meant a lot to him!

The club itself was situated just around the corner of the next street, and soon they saw Iit, a large dark grey building with a flat roof. A large almost golden doorway with light pouring out onto the dark street welcomed them, as did a red carpet literally rolling onto the street.

As the four of them went inside, Repple lead them into a quiet room, with white walls and red carpets. A grand fireplace stood proudly on the opposite wall, a merry fire burning in it. An elderly man sat in a comfortable looking plushy chair, a small wooden table in front of him. Set upon it was a black and white chess set, he was playing the skillful game alone. On a bid purple cushion at his feet, a cute and cuddly black cat with a small white triangular splodge under his chin. The man himself had wispy white hair, was wearing a lobe red robe like a dressing gown, slippers on his feet. He had a monocle in his eye, and was smoking a pipe.

'That's Mr. Wyse, he usually spends his time here in the Bastille room. Mr. Wyse, this is The Doctor, Rose Tyler and Craig Tyler' he ended loud enough to be heard.

'New guests, splendid. Splendid, welcome!' he cried joyously, he really seemed to be a sweet old man.

'Mr. Wyse runs the club since its endower Mr. Pooter is away a lot of the time, he also lives here' Repple smiled.

'Nice to meet you' the Doctor smiled.

'Meow' the cat cried as he wandered over to Craig, who instantly knelt down to pet it. He loved Cats, they were just so cute! And this one was adorable. Another two men suddenly came into the room.

'Oh, new guests' a particularly large man in a black and white uniform said in surprise. The man next to his, a younger man with blondish hair and blue eyes smiled brightly at them.

'And this is Aske' he said pointing at the blonde man who waved a little.

'And Mr. Crowther, Chief Steward' he pointed at the larger man.

'Pleasure' they said at the same time.

'Well, Doctor, Craig, Rose, I bid you goodnight. I hope you find what you are looking for soon' Repple nodded at them before exiting the room. Aske seemed to shake his head, and the Doctor threw him a questioning look. When he noticed he sighed before beginning to talk.

'I really feel sorry for him, he's just not himself recently' he sighed.

'Why, what's wrong with him?' Rose asked in concern.

'He believes his own fiction, you see a while again, he was playing the part of Elector of Dastaria in a parade, but then he fainted. When he woke up, he actually believed it to be true, there no such place as Dastaria, I've told him again and again but he refused to believe it' he explained, finishing with a loud sigh.

'It's a disturbed man's folly, nothing more Aske, Doctor, Rose, Craig, if you'd all follow me I'll show you to your rooms' Mr. Crowther said, and a few moments later he was leading them up the black marble staircase, down a white hall lined with red carpet, stopping at two white doors opposite each other.

'Doctor, you can have this room, Craig you can have the one next door, Rose your is the one opposite' he smiled, pointing them to each door in turn.

'Thanks' Craig smiled gratefully at him.

'Just in case we need him, where is the man in charge's room' the Doctor asked casually, but Craig could tell that met he had something else in mind. He always did.

'Mr. Pooter's rooms are above yours, so do try and keep the noise down' he said firmly.

'We always are, quiet as mice us' the Doctor grinned and Rose stifled a laugh.

With a nod, he retreated back down the stairs. The Doctor silently nodded with his head for them all to go into his room, with was small, matching the hallway with white walls and red carpets, a large bed with a red cover taking up most of the space. He was about to open his mouth to begin talking, when there was a knock on the door. He opened it as Craig and Rose both sat on the bed, and Repple came into the room. The cat slinked in behind him. he looked terrified and uneasy, like he wasn't sure of what he should do.

'What's the matter' the Doctor said softly. He took his hand and lead him over to the bed, sitting down next to him.

'Please help me! I'm a prisoner here, I'm Mayor Aske's prisoner' he whispered, fear lining his voice.

'I don't understand' Rose said after a few moments of silence.

'Please, help me' he pleaded.

'I'm sorry, but Aske seems to think your mind believes in a fictional place called Dastaria, there's no such place' the Doctor said gently.

'But it has a flag, it's black with a white triangle' he exclaimed. Craig glanced down at the cat, who merely blinked at him in return. He was about to comment, when Repple jumped up and fled the room.

'That man is off his rocker' was the only comment his could make.

…

It was early the following day when Rose awoke. She and Craig had both stayed with the Doctor for a while to come up with ideas as to where the Tardis may be, but so far none of them had any real leads. The Doctor was adamant that the attack on Peter last night had something to do with the Tardis' disappearance. She quickly brushed her hair and got washed up before hurrying down the stairs. She found the Doctor playing chess with Mr. Wyse whilst Craig was sitting in a chair, a book before him. She chuckled that it was Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol; it was weird to think that what had occurred some fifty years previously in normal time had been just over a week for them, Charles and Gwyneth and the Gelth, it was truly brilliant being with the Doctor!

'So, Mr. Wyse, tell me about Repple' the Doctor asked casually, and Mr. Wyse let out a sigh.

'I am afraid it is not Repple that is delusional, but Aske' he stated, as Rose waved at them both and slipped into the chair next to Craig, who bid her a good morning before continuing with his book. She just sat there watching the two men playing chess.

'It didn't seem that way last night' the Doctor said, and at Mr. Wyse's confused expression he told them what he had said. He sighed again.

'Repple often plays along with what Aske says, I think it amuses him' the elderly man replied.

'Very funny' Craig drily commented. At that moment, Mr. Crowther came into the room.

'Doctor, there is a visitor here to see you, a Miss Heart' he stated, and Craig could have sworn the Doctor paled. He let out a loud laughed.

'You've got an admirer' he giggled as Melissa came into the room. He quickly clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle it. She was wearing a tight fitting blue dress this time, and a jeweled silvery mask in the shape of a lily over her face. She really had a thing for masks it seemed, almost suspicious Rose thought to herself. In her arms she was carrying the Doctor's jacket.

'Doctor, so good to see you again, I've brought this, apparently Lady Anna found it after you left' she smiled seductively at him.

'Oh, thank you' he said rather weakly. There was something off about this Melissa Heart, he knew it, he just had to look properly. He had an idea, and he quickly drew out his Sonic Screwdriver. He held it before.

'Do you know what this is' he asked casually. She took a moment to look at it, before she turned his gaze back to the Doctor. She looked intently into his eyes as her mouth twisted in an alluring smile.

'I think you should come a calling, Doctor…' she smiled, leaning in in a way that gave him a clear look down her dress, gracefully handing him a small white card, no doubt with her address on it, before turning on her heel and marching out the door, without so much as sparing a look at Rose and Craig. Clearly she only meant the Doctor. Rose huffed as the door closed with a snap.

'Oh, that face…' Craig whispered teasingly at her and she turned her glare on him instead. She really did not like that Melissa Heart.

…

Craig had suggested that the disappearance of the Tardis was stressing Rose out a bit too much, since she had been demanding that they find it now, though that was probably to do more with Melissa Heart than anything else. He had suggested that they go onto the British Empire Exhibition as they had come for, with a small detour to Sir George's to thank Anna for finding the Doctor's jacket.

Once they had been invited in, Rose had suggested that maybe Freddie could go with them, and his step father had been thrilled with the idea, it would be so nice for him to get out the house for a change, and it was so kind of them to offer. But as they were waiting for his return, Anna had put her foot down, saying Freddie was not allowed to go, but can ride in the car. It seemed almost strange that she said this just after Freddie had mentioned seeing Melissa Heart with the Doctor's jacket.

After going for a drive around with Freddie, the Doctor had changed his mind and took them back to the Club, much to Craig annoyance. Soon even it was evening again, and both Tyler had told the Doctor off, they wanted to get going again. He had held his hands up in surrender when Craig threatened him with another tickle attack, promising he would find it soon.

Once they had both retreated into their rooms, he had practically fled down the stairs and ran into Mr. Wyse, and immediately was engaged in another game of chess. The man was quite good, not as good as him, but than again that was pretty hard, a brain like his!

The door creaked open slightly, he didn't pay it any attention until the cat suddenly hissed and lunged towards it. He jumped up, startled as two men shielded themselves from the angry cat. One was large and taller, wearing a blue shirt and black trousers. He had dark eyes and black hair and a short matching beard. The other was shorter, skinner, and bale. He was wearing a white shirt and brown trousers. They both muttered curses at the fact they had being caught out, by a cat no less!

'Who are you?!' Mr. Wyse demanded angrily.

'None of your business old man' the larger man roared loudly. Suddenly from over head their was a footfall of noise, and suddenly, Rose and Craig both darted into the room. The man with the black hair grabbed the cat and threw it into a brown sack. It's angry hisses could clearly by heard.

'Oi, leave it alone' Craig yelled, but they both laughed manically before bolting for it, racing out the front door. Craig chased after them, but they had both vanished. But he could see the sack floating in the Thames, and he let out a shocked cry at the two men's cruelty, for the cat had surely drown.

…

'What is going on' Rose demanded of the Doctor, who simply shrugged. He was about to reply when they jumped as the door opened again, and to their surprise the cat came strolling back in, though it was walking slightly odd, well odd for a cat. Behind it came a few minutes later Aske and Repple, followed by an out of breathe Craig a few moments later. He looked at confusion at the cat.

'How the hell did it do that, the sack was dumped in the Thames!' he cried out. The Doctor frowned, something funny was going on in London here, and he wanted to find out what.

...

The next morning Rose was awoke, this time to a light knocking on the door, and a few moments later Craig stuck his head in.

'Thought of something that might interest ya' he said as greeting, and at her interested expression he elaborated.

'I mentioned to Mr. Crowther last night that I'd heard Mr. Pooter upstairs, but he told me he wouldn't be back until this morning for a Trustee's meeting. I thought we could have a little listen' he grinned as she smiled at him. She got and followed him as he went back out the door, she closed it behind her. They wondered down the corridor and up another flight of stairs, finding a hallway identical to the one they were staying on, with a room marked 'Boardroom' at the other end.

'Damn, look, a steward's guarding it' Rose pointed out, and indeed there was a man standing just outside the door.

'That makes me want to know what's being said even more' Craig smirked, taking her hand. She threw him a puzzled look, but he led her to another room, going straight to the window. He opened it and looked out at the metal grating fire escape. He grinned as he climbed out onto it. Rose followed him, and soon they were sneaking across it, stopping just outside the board room. They couldn't get close enough without being detected, and they were too far away to properly see. Craig sighed as he indicated with his head for her to turn back, but as they went, the metal beneath their feet creaked, and with dread Craig turned back, only to see that the cat was staring at him, the cat that should have drowned last night.

…

Creeping away and down the stairs, Rose and Craig found the Doctor sitting playing chess once more, only now he was the one playing alone.

'Finally, where've you been' he asked as he got up and went to them.

'Trying to listen in on the Trustee's meeting, couldn't get close enough' Craig briefly explained.

'Tut-tut, shouldn't go around listening in on people' the Doctor mockingly scolded them. Craig laughed and Rose giggled as she playfully hit his arm.

'Anyway, I think we should pay this Melissa heart a visit, she seems to keep popping up' the Doctor suggested.

'That, and you wanna look down her dress again' Craig smirked as he blushed.

'As if I looked' he pouted in an unconvincing voice. Neither of them noticed Rose's furious expression, or the sad look in her eyes.

**...**

**Aw! Poor Rose : ( A little different for Rose to be a bit jealous so early on from canon, but then again, she did she say only fought with Shareen over a man, so I can picture she as been a bit jealous quickly, even if she doesn't realise why ; ) Anyway, I hope you like my version of the Clockwise Man so far, and pleasle let me know with a lovely review ; )**


	31. The Clockwise Man, A Blackened Heart

**Hey readers, here's part three, hope you enjoy it! Now i have a little problem, I have an Own adventure coming up but my brain just can't seem to think of one, so if anybody has a suggestion for what they'd like to see, please let me know in a review ; ) Cheers, and as my disclaimer, you know I don't own Doctor Who or The Clockwise Man, I do own Craig Tyler, and I wrote this version myself using Wikipedia's Plot. Read on and enjoy!**

**...**

**The Clockwise Man – A Blackened Heart**

It turned out that Melissa lived not far away from the Club, Rose had been quick to comment about her laziness about driving, and soon they were walking up the path to another posh looking house, with yellow bricks and a grey roof, with a neatly kept flowing garden. The Doctor knocked on the door, and Melissa soon answered. Today she was wearing a green dress, again clinging to her nicely, and a pure white mask which obscured all of her face. Craig realized they hadn't actually seen what she really looked like yet.

'Hmm, just can't keep away' she commented as she looked at the Doctor, before she frowned when she saw Rose and Craig with him.

'You all do keep turning up, kind of like a Bad Wolf' she smiled. Craig's eyes widened. The saying was bad penny, but the words were there again! It was like it was a warning, a message, someone trying to tell him something, like it was everywhere in the universe just for him!

'The saying is Bad Penny' Rose commented in a cold voice. She and the Doctor both failed to see Craig's face.

'Oh, I must be thinking of something else then' Melissa frowned as she led them inside, into a long room with a table running up the center. Place upon it was over 20 masks arranged carefully, varying in colour size and shape, Rose smirked at several more abstract ones, like anybody would walk around wearing them unless they were completely fashion impaired. Near the table was a white marble fireplace, and on either side of it stood a plinth. Perch atop them were two identical silver suits of armor, each carrying a sword, seemingly glaring down at them all.

Melissa hurried into another room, and Rose commented in her lack of taste, calling the knight's ugly. Craig frowned at her, it really wasn't like her to dislike someone so much after only meeting them a few times. It was like she was threatened by Melissa or something, and he sighed when he figure at what it was, it was her way with the Doctor, but why would that bother Rose, unless…

When Melissa had returned they had talked for a while, particularly about Sir George's family and how she knew them. Then the conversation had taken a more personal turn, she kept dropping hints that the Doctor was the man she was looking for. He of course tried to ignore it, Rose was becoming angrier by the second, and Craig was having a hard time keeping in his laughter at the Doctor's expression.

'And you're so clever; I must say it's remarkable. I've also wanted to find a clever man, it something I've been looking for' she said dreamily, a sly smile on her face. The Doctor quickly jumped to his feet.

'Oh, ar, um… I don't think I'm the one you've been looking for' he stammered, and suddenly the smile fell from Melissa's face, replaced by a very angry scowl.

'Is that so, I suppose you prefer that little girl over there' she pointed at Rose, she looked about ready to slap her. She probably would have if Craig hadn't put a calming hand on her shoulder.

'No it's just…em' he tried to calm her. Craig could have slapped his forehead; the Doctor was terrible at this whole dating thing. He may not be into women in the slightest, but at least he had some idea of how to calm one down! She suddenly snapped her fingers, and a loud ticking sound filled the room. TICK TOCK TICK TOCK, it sounded like a really big clock! The three of the looked around in confusion for the source, and Melissa smirked.

'Well, if you don't want me, you can face my lovely boys instead' she taunted, and suddenly the two knights stepped down from their plinths, their swords held out in front of them. Their jaws dropped.

'And what are they, what creatures' the Doctor demanded as the three of them back away down the room.

'So these are such joyous invention, Clockwork men, running like a clock, acting like a man, and all without traceable, anachronistic technology' she grinned creepily at them. The three of them ran for the door, but the Knight beat them too it, blocking the way out. The Doctor pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver; he could easily mess up their circuits with it. He pressed the button… and nothing happened.

'Haha, you believe me to be a fool, I could tell there was something different about you, so I stole your jacket and removed the power source from your sonic device there' Melissa smirked. Oh she was clever, sneaky and clever, not a good combo. The knights raised their swords above their head, ready to strike any second, until suddenly the window flew open, and standing on the outside was Freddie.

'Quick, get out, get out!' he called through, and Rose quickly leapt through, swiftly followed by Craig and then the Doctor. They could hear Melissa screaming in fury on the inside and the four of them bolted, running away as fast as they could.

'Freddie, go home, you shouldn't make your mother worry' the Doctor said when they were a safe distance away. Freddie nodded, and when they and thanked him, he turned into his street and rounded the corner out of sight.

'Clockwork men, what's that about' Rose was the first to speak.

'No idea, whatever's going on though, it can't be good' the Doctor replied solemnly.

'So, we have a crazy woman with clockwork killer knights, who also fancied you so she's clearly blind' Craig started, ignoring the Doctor's outraged expressed and Rose's amused one as he continued.

'A cat that should be lying at the bottom of the Thames, poor thing, two creeps breaking in and two more nut jobs in a club hotel, this has got to be your weirdest ever adventure' Craig finished, looking at the Doctor who grinned.

'I've had weirder' he grinned as the three of them set off, back to the Imperial Club. They had to get to the bottom of this, and soon.

…

The three of them had hurried back to the Club, where the Doctor had sat in silent thought for some time, before stating a theory that Melissa would send her clockwork men when night had fallen and it was totally dark. Craig hoped he was wrong, but his gut told him he wouldn't be. Rose had left the room to go warn Mr. Pooter about the threat, whilst Craig and the Doctor had gone to tell all the staff. They had decided to evacuate the club and leave only the three of them inside, that way nobody else would get hurt by mistake. Mr. Wyse had already left, claiming he had a prior engagement but promised to return soon. Craig had just warned Repple and Aske, and a third man named Wensleydale, a man in his earlier fifties and rather grumpy with dark eyes and greying brown hair: that a masked woman was sending an assassin to kill a man and the four of them had hurried down to the main room. The Doctor was there waiting for them.

'Craig, is that everyone' the Doctor immediately went over to him. Once met with a nod, he turned to face the others.

'I see Wyse has done a bunk, coward, probably playing chess with that Ben man or whatever his name is' Wensleydale commented as he settled himself in a chair. Craig frowned; that man was a total grump!

'Doctor, I've sent all the ladies away as requested, they'll return tomorrow' Crowther said as he came into the room.

'That's good, but where is Rose?' Craig asked.

…

Rose had gone upstairs to warn the owner of the Club, Mr. Pooter, she had knocked on the door marked with his name but there was no answer. She was about to go back down stairs, when she heard with dread the sound of a loud TICK TOCK, as the door creaked open slightly. She backed away as the cat walked slowly out. It looked up at her, and she looked right back, until suddenly its eyes changed from their forest green to a bloody scarlet. It hissed loudly, it looked almost possessed, and with a yelp of surprise she ducked as it fired two beams of glowing red electric like light from its eyes. They left scorch marks on the wall, right she had been standing seconds before. She was about to run when it leapt at her, it's claws posed, sharper than those of any cat she had seen. She reacted quickly, for she realized there was no way it could be real, it was ticking for god's sake! She firmly caught it around the neck, it fought hard but she held on, keeping it at arm's length. It turned it eyes towards her, and no doubt preparing to fire, she acted first. She smashed it again and again into the wall until bolts and spring shot out of it. She dropped it to the floor and it did not move; it had to have been dead, if a machine could die. As she fled back down the stairs, wanting to warn the Doctor as soon as possible, she didn't see the door slip open, and another cat strolled out.

…

The Doctor and Craig had been discussing what they were going to do next when Rose burst into the room.

'The cat, it's one of them, a clockwork cat, it tried to kill me' she panted for breath as she explained.

'They're here already, right…' he was about to form a plan for what to do, but he was interrupted. There was a loud hammering on the front door of the club, it sounded like something was slicing through it. It was splintering until a large hole appeared in it. A large metal hand clawed through, and turned the key in the lock.

'It them it's the knights' Craig yelped as they started to open the door.

'Mr. Crowther, take your staff and hide in the kitchen, only leave if it's unsafe or clear, Mr. Wensleydale, take the other guests into the Bastille room and stay there' he quickly order, Wensleydale looked ready to argue but soon thought better of it. They both fled their parties in toe.

'And us' Rose asked as the door was fully ripped away.

'Upstairs, move it, come on!' he shouted, and the three of the raced up them, Aske and Repple following them.

'Where are we going' Craig asked as they ran.

'To see a man about a cat' the Doctor grinned. Craig and Rose both groaned loudly.

They hurried up to the third floor, the remains of the cat were still there but the room was firmly locked shut as they tried it. The Doctor rammed in with his shoulder, wincing in pain when it didn't open. Craig smirked as he moved forwards.

'Move aside ya great wuss, this is a gay man's job' he grinned, whilst the Doctor looked at him in confusion. He brought up his leg and kicked it full blast, the door banged open, it's lock broken.

'Craig Tyler you truly are brilliant, great door skills' the Doctor commented softly.

'Well, you sometimes need a good foot, you know, ex-boyfriends and that' he smiled as the five of them entered the fresh hold. It was a rather ugly room, made up completely of dull grey panels of metal, even the floor and ceiling. It was literally a metal box! There was no furniture, no personal items at all. In the center stood a dark metal control console, a white triangle was on the front of it. There were pigeon holes in one side of it, all of them contain identical cats, their loud ticking noise was filling the room, vibrating off the metal walls.

'Oh, I think we've found the place we're looking for' the Doctor said softly.

'What is it' Repple asked.

'Good question' the Doctor replied with as he moved forwards for a closer look.

'Better keep a look out' Craig noted, moving back over to the door. What he saw made his heart drop. There stood the knights, Melissa, and she had ahold of Freddie back the neck.

'Doctor!' he called back to him. The Doctor quickly looked up, and seeing the knights as they went to step forwards, he ripped out a cable, forcing them to groan and step back, there were connected to it!

Melissa simply stepped past them, dragging Freddie with her.

'I'd let go of that if I were you' she said in a cold voice.

'And why's that' the Doctor replied with.

'Because if you don't, I'll be forced to greatly damage this little one' she said with a sly smile, roughly shaking a whimpering Freddie as one of the knights pointed its sword at the young boy. The Doctor instantly let the cable drop to the floor.

She pulled out a black tube from her pocket, it looked like a sort of cigarette holder, and pressed a button on it. It let out a fire like beam of energy, which struck the console and with a loud bang, left it smoking, it was completed destroyed beyond use. Freddie looked even more scared, he really didn't want to be here, and he especially didn't want to get scratched by that thing!

'So doctor, or should I call you be your true name' she asked, and the Doctor's eyes widened, how could she know his name, he'd never told anybody that!

'Shade Vassily of Katuria' she said loudly, and the Doctor let out a relieved sigh, that was nowhere near his name! But who was this Shade Vassily then, and what did he have to do with it?

'HA, he is not Shade Vassily, I am' Repple stepped forwards and said smugly, and all eyes flickered towards him. Aske hurried forwards.

'Don't listen to him, he's insane, I am the real Shade Vassily of Katuria' he protested. He never had time to react, none of them did, as one of the knights raise its sword, and stabbed him through the back.

'NO' the doctor yelled as he slumped forwards, and both Craig and Rose let out started and horrified cries. The three of them knelt down next to them, Melissa merely looked at them like this was entertaining her to no end. His time would be end very soon. He tried to speak, but his voice came out in shaking breaths.

'I… Am… Shade…Vassily' he whispered before his stilled, his eyes closed. He was dead.

The Doctor rounded on Melissa in anger, ready to give her a piece of his mind, when he noticed that Crowther and Wensleydale had snuck up behind her, and she gasped as she felt a gun pressing into her neck. She stood as still as a statue, yet her face held no fear.

'Run, Rose, Craig, RUN, find Wyse' he ordered, at the same instant at which Freddie broke free. He, the two Tylers and Crowther all fled the room.

'Big mistake old man' Melissa said scathingly, and the Doctor realized too late that she still had her tube weapon in her hand. She fired in backwards, the beam went clean through, and he felt to the ground, he too was dead.

Repple looked at her in fear, the Doctor with great anger, as she held the weapon up, pointing it straight at their chests.

…

Rose, Craig, Freddie and Crowther had run all the way to the top of the stair at the far end of the corridor, the other knight was quickly pursuing them. The hurried down them, the knight raising its sword to plunge through them. Suddenly out of nowhere, two of the other guests, a young couple, stuck their legs out and trip it. It crashed all the way down the stairs, and with a large bang, its helmet literally burst apart.

'Blimey, now that's what I could a smart head' Craig commented. Inside the helmet were cogwheels, gears, levers, flywheels, and a large glass crystal like thing, in place where the forehead was meant to be.

'Never mind that now, it might not be dead' Rose pointed out, running towards a window and throwing it open. She leapt out onto the fire escape. Craig quickly picked up Freddie and past him through, before he too climbed through, and soon enough the three were running down the fire escape, doing just that, escaping.

**...**

**And there it is : ) I hope you're all enjoying my story so far, and any comments you have are always welcome in a review, whether they be good or critical, I like reading them! Also, if you have any ideas for adventures or just anything you'd like to see, you know what to do. Read on my ever faithful readers ; )**


	32. The Clockwise Man, TickTock on the Clock

**Hiya, very quick update I know, two in one day, but I just wanted The Clockwise Man completing before the week starts, just so I can focus on something else. I can feel a little writor's block coming on, but I'll try to get through it ; ) As always I don't own Doctor Who or The Clockwise Man, i just used its plot to write this from scratch. I do own Craig Tyler however : ) Read on, but be warned, because time is rapidly running out like a Clockwise Man...**

**...**

**The Clockwise Man – TickTock on the Clock **

'Alright, in there and keep quiet' Melissa snarled as she directed the Doctor and Repple into a darkened room, her weapon still trained on them. It was pitch black, the only objects there was a small wooden bookshelf with several thick black books on it. A very thick glassed window stood tall, overlooking the Thames. She had brought them back to house, so that she could keep them out of her way.

She slammed the door shut, and with a loud click, the door was locked, they were sealed in. the Doctor sighed, whilst Repple slid down to the floor and sat there, accepting his fate. The Doctor however wanted something to do, and turned to the bookshelf, hoping it would give him an idea of how to get out. He raised an eyebrow as he discovered they were all different versions of the story of this Shade Vassily character. He was about to ask Repple about him, just for further background, it could have been important, but when he paused to focus, his stomach plummeted, for he could hear the sound of a ticking clock.

'Oh' the Doctor sighed. The only possible thing in the room that could be ticking was an automated life form, the only other life form in the room, Repple.

'What's wrong' Repple asked in concern. He had no idea about what he really was.

'I'm sorry Repple, I'm sorry you're not Shady Vassily' he said softly.

'I told you, I AM' he protested.

'No… you think you are, and that's because' the Doctor trailed off, raising a hand. He put it under Repple's chin. As he thought, the handsome face was merely a mask, he pealed it away to reveal a glass head shaped domes, inside were golden gears, springs, wheels, and buttons. Repple looked at the mask in the Doctor's hand in fear, it was his face! He turned to look in the window, and saw the face of a machine looking back at him. He gasped and his chest began to raise heavily and quickly, but not with air, it was his programming tell it to react like that. He was a machine that thought he was alive!

'I'm…I'm one… I'm one of the mechanicals' he gasped.

'I'm so sorry' the Doctor said soothingly.

'But why, why do I feel real' he cried, or would of if he could.

'I don't know, what I do know is that we still have to find a power mad homicidal maniac with a superiority complex' he stated.

…

Craig, Rose, and Freddie had made it down to the street from the Fire Escape and had fled to the river side, putting a fair bit of distance between them and the Club. They were walking in compatible silence.

'Craig, we need to take Freddie home, his mother will be worried sick' Rose hissed in whisper to her brother.

'Yeah, but to get to his house, we have to go back past the club, and Melissa got him from there' Craig pointed out quietly. They didn't want Freddie to think they were talking about him. She was about to reply, when a meowing halted them in their tracks.

'Look, over there' Freddie cried, and looming in the shadows was the black cat, the cat that kept popping up all over. It was limping slightly, maybe it had been damaged already Rose thought to herself.

'That's one of the cats, maybe we should follow it' she whispered.

'Ok, but let's keep a distance in case it turns nasty if it sees us, so be quiet' Craig whispered to them both. The three of them began creeping after the cat, across the darkened bridge, in the direction of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Craig smiled as he thought that in about eighty years' time, it would be hit by a space ship, very ironic in his opinion.

…

'Sssh' the Doctor whispered to Repple. He had slipped his face back on, and had slipped his hand off. Literally his entire hand came off, for now he knew what he was, he knew how to use the tools attached to him. he was now using a revolving gear hidden in his hand to saw through the lock on the door, but he wasn't being too quiet about it.

'I can't help it' he protested, until finally a few seconds later he has cut all the way through. The door slowly opened.

'Come on' the Doctor whispered. The two of them began to climb the stairs. They pushed open a door, only to find Melissa on the other side, her mask once showing great anger.

'How did you get out?!' she demanded with a snarl.

'Show her Repple, he's a distraction, look at him' the Doctor said to her. Repple lifted up his now reattached hand and pulled back his face. Melissa shrieked in surprise.

'Repple's being a decoy for you all along, the real Shady must be out there somewhere' the Doctor stated softly, thinking aloud.

'Where is he?' Melissa demanded.

'He's got to have somewhere nearby, some kind of travel method, a spacecraft of some kind' he reasoned.

'Well, where would that be hidden' Repple asked.

'Look inside, you tell us' the Doctor replied firmly. Repple closed his 'eyes' for good few minutes. Melissa kept a stern glared trained on the Doctor, who shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably. He really wished that woman would make up her mind, she was making him nervous.

'I sense it' Repple said suddenly, breaking the tension.

'Where is it' the Doctor wanted to know.

'It is hidden, beneath a great volume of water' he replied.

'The Thames' Melissa breathed.

'To hide in the Thames it'll need a powerful engine to remain undamaged under water for so long' the Doctor stated. Another spaceship in the Thames, Déjà vu or what?

'And when it activates?' Melissa questioned.

'You destroyed the controls' he commented.

'So what' she spat.

'So now not only can the real Vassily escape, but reenergizing it will create a firestorm big enough to swallow the whole of London' he frowned as she gasped, and Repple looked uneasy as he returned his face to his head.

…

Craig, Rose, and Freddie had followed the cat all the way to the very base of Big Ben. It slipped into the great tower's door, closing before they had the chance to go through it. Rose went over to it.

'Rose, what are you doing' Craig hissed.

'Going after it, what else' she asked, confused by his tone.

'And what if somebody's in there waiting' he pointed out. She opened her mouth to reply, but before she had the chance, it opened to reveal…Mr Wyse?

'Young Craig and Rose' he said cheerfully.

'Mr. Wyse, what are you doing here?' Rose asked, ducking when he suddenly tossed the cat back out into the street, it hissed and it's eyes changed to red.

'Get in quick!' she yelled, and Craig piled through the door, she slammed it shut before the cat could attack. They didn't realize that Freddie hadn't come in.

'What's going on?' Craig asked, as Rose gasped.

'Something wrong my dear?' Mr. Wyse asked.

'You look after the Club yeah, we'll you left whilst the Trustee meeting was on, I think you were in that meeting' she replied in a shocked voice. His warm grandfatherly like smile suddenly became cold.

'Well my dear, you are correct in your assumption' he smirked, and Craig suddenly understood.

'You're Mr. Pooter, aren't you' Craig asked. He had a very bad feeling about this.

'Indeed I am young Craig' he smirked. He turned on his heel and began up the stairs. Craig silently went to the door, but it was locked. It must have been the cat, he realized.

'We're trapped' Rose whispered.

'We need to find a way to let the Doctor know where we are' Craig thought aloud. Rose suddenly noticed a face in the window.

'Find the Doctor' she mouthed, pleased to see Freddie weakly nod and slip out of sight.

'Come on, let's play along with him for now, until the Doctor get's here' Craig whispered, and when Rose nodded, the pair of them quickly caught up on the stair behind Mr. Pooter.

'I see you've chosen to come along, very wise' he chuckled as he led them up the tower.

'So, why pretend to be someone else' Craig asked casually, like old man frequently revealed their true identities to him.

'I can't have people knowing who I am' he simply replied with, as they reached the top. They were at the top of Big Ben now, and it exactly what you would expect from a clock tower operation center. The room was full of cogwheels, huge ones and small ones, shafts, spinning gears, and large black levers. You'd expect very loud noises to be filling the room, but it was rather quiet, something wasn't right here.

'Impressive isn't it, it's because of me that this place was built, to make the time of the greatest clock more… accurate' Mr. Pooter stated calmly. Craig gulped, something about that calmness gave him the creeps, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

…

The Doctor, Repple, and even Melissa had gone to the Thames as fast of possible, looking for possible signed of the spacecraft hidden beneath it. Repple look over to see Freddie on the over side.

'Doctor, look' he pointed him out.

'Come on' the Doctor said, and the three of them quickly ran over the bridge, skidding to a stop before the young boy.

'Doctor! Rose and Craig, they're inside the tower with that old man, they're locked in' he quickly told them. The Doctor groaned, these two were so jeopardy-friendly!

'Come on' he instructed the other three, and quickly but quietly the three approached the window.

'Right, we can't fit through, but you can Freddie, I give you a leg up' the Doctor stated, before he noticed Freddie looked uncertain.

'What is it' he asked softer.

'I, I don't want to get cut' he pointed at some broken mesh.

'I'll be very careful' the Doctor said gently, and when he received a slight nod, he lifted the boy up and gently lowered him carefully through the window.

They heard Freddie pulling and tugging at the door, but to no avail.

'Doctor, I can't open it' his muffled voice came through.

'Stay there, we'll find another way in' the Doctor called through, and they would. It was high time this was sorted and put to bed.

…

'Right, we need to get in, how can we do that' the Doctor asked no one in particular as he paced up and down. Melissa let out a sigh, rummaging through the pocket on the coat she had thrown over herself as they had left her house. From out of it, she drew a long thin glowing stick, bright blue in colour. She also due out some gears and springs from the smashed Knight she had collected.

'Here, the power source. But note I am only giving it to you to get to Vassily' she commented as the Doctor took it from her. He quickly put it back in the Sonic Screwdriver, beaming when it light up.

'Fantastic, now let's see if we can use these… to fix this' he commented, looking down at the broken cat. He quickly got to work. After a few moments, its eyes lit up as it flared back into light.

'Right, stand back' he grinned, pointing the cat's head at the door's lock. It fired two beams, and the lock melted away. They hurried to push them open.

The Doctor lead them over the threshold, only to see Freddie had wandered off. Humans, always wandering off! Melissa and Repple had followed him, and surprisingly so had Melissa's remaining Knight.

'Where did that come from' he asked in surprise.

'Oh my lovely boys near stray too far from me, for my protection' she smirked. He rolled his eyes, and started up the stairs.

…

Wyse had startled both Rose and Craig when he suddenly pulled out a gun. They all jumped when the doors below them suddenly banged open. Pooter slipped slightly, on some… blood? That was on the steps. In his moment of distraction, Rose and Craig made for the door, and they noticed that Freddie had somehow got in also, but they couldn't go anywhere as Pooter trained his gun on them again within seconds.

'Come on, move!' he ordered, pointing with his gun. After a long glance at each other, the pair moved where he had indicated, the clock room. They grinned when the Doctor suddenly burst into the room, Repple and strangely Melissa right behind him.

'Mr. Wyse, what…' Repple said in confusion.

'He's Mr. Pooter' Craig spoke up.

'But you're all too late, for when the clock strikes 10, the mechanism will activate' he grinned wickedly.

'And the whole of London will go up in flames' the Doctor growled. Craig gasped as a memory hit him.

_'Big Ben aglow in the fire light'_

Those were the words the Face of Boe had said to him that was when they had met, but was that now? Craig wasn't sure, the Face of Boe had implied that there first meeting was intense, other than Repple, who had had barely said two words too, there was no one else. It couldn't be now; it must just be a coincidence. Thankfully, his gasp was passed off as shock over the damage that could be done to London.

'A necessary sacrifice' Pooter sneered.

'That's not your decision to make' the Doctor growled.

'It matters not, once the clock strikes ten' he smiled menacingly.

'And what if it doesn't?' the Doctor asked knowingly. Pooter's face quickly became a snarl.

'And what does that mean? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!' Pooter yelled, but the Doctor had already took off. He was heading back downstairs, Pooter giving chase. Melissa and Repple followed him, as did Craig. Rose was about to follow, when she noticed something that made her stomach drop, Freddie was bleeding.

…

The Doctor ran into the gear room, Pooter aimed his gun at him, whilst Melissa, Repple and Craig burst in behind him. He instantly glared at all four of them.

'So, what're gonna do now, you don't know what I've done to stop you' the Doctor taunted. Craig could tell he was bluffing.

'Oh you'll tell me' the old man sneered.

'Or what' Craig added, and Pooter whipped around to face him. he completely missed seeing the Doctor silently pass his Sonic Screwdriver to Melissa.

…

'Freddie, Freddie what happened, you are you hurting' Rose asked hurriedly, her voice full of worry. She couldn't see any severe injuries, just a cut, but the amount of blood just didn't seem right, there was too much!

'I, I cut myself' Freddie whimpered. Rose paused to think for a moment, her hand pressed up against his leg to stop the bleeding. It was bleeding far too heavily for a shallow cut, unless of course…

'Oh god, you're a hemophiliac' she gasped. He weakly nodded. She gently guided him to the ground, laying him comfortably. She took of her hoodie and wrapped it around him.

'DOCTOR' she yelled as loud as she could.

…

The Doctor and Craig were taking it in turns to talk to Pooter, distracting him as much as possible. Craig had no idea what the Doctor was planning, but when he had seen the Doctor signal for him to keep him talking, Craig was doing his best to ensure that he did. Suddenly they heard Rose scream from above.

'Go see what she's screaming about' the Doctor said to Repple. Craig wanted to go, but he knew he was needed here.

Pooter was so distracted; he didn't see that Melissa was quickly using the Sonic Screwdriver to disable various parts of the system, until she accidently made a cog spark too much. He whirled around, beginning to advance on her. He brought up his gun, aiming at her head.

'NO' the Doctor yelled as he went to fire.

…

Rose kept her hand on Freddie's leg, trying desperately to stop the bleeding, but it just kept getting worse. Repple swiftly came back into the room.

'Rose, what's…oh' he murmured as he caught sight of Freddie. In an instant, he was on his knees beside her, looking over the wound.

'He's hemophiliac' she cried.

'Right, we need to stop the bleeding, here' he said quickly, ripping the sleeve of his shirt. With Rose's help, he tightly wrapped it around Freddie's leg, restricting the blood flow somewhat.

'That'll help for now, but we need to cauterize it to stop the bleeding completely' he explained.

'Well how do we do that' she asked sounding somewhat panicked. Blood she could handle, seeing a child bleeding was something else.

'I don't know, maybe the Doctor will know' he shrugged.

Or maybe the Sonic Screwdriver would work' she thought aloud as she took off at a run, desperate to find the Doctor and Craig before it was too late.

…

'NO' the Doctor yelled as Melissa gasped in fear. Craig ran forward and rammed straight into him, sending the old man flying. He cried out in shock as he hit the ground, the gun span across the floor. The knight, who had followed them down, stepped on it, crushing it into dust. The severed head of the robot cat was in one of its metal hands. Rose suddenly burst into the room as Pooter when to hit Craig in retaliation, who ducked and jumped back, raising his own fists.

'Doctor, it's Freddie, he's bleeding, I need the Sonic Screwdriver to cauterize his wound' she panted.

'No way, without this the entire room will explode if I can't finish' Melissa protested. Rose glared at her but remained silent, she had no argument; she knew Melissa was right, for once. She turned back to her work, and after a few minutes of struggling on Craig and the Doctor's part, stopping Pooter from advancing on Melissa, she commanded for her knight to grab onto the central gear. As it did, there was a loud grinding noise, and a moment later the entire mechanism halted, jammed up, but as it jerked, it ripped the knight arm out, which grunted and fell back. But the machine had already been stopped.

'There, it's done' Melissa panted in relief.

'YOU' Pooter raged, running at her. The Knight sprang into action, ready to protect it's master, using the cat's head. Pooter gasped as it's beam hit him, knocking him off his feet, into one of the outer shafts. He screamed as he fell from Big Ben, until they could no longer be heard. They all grimaced as a loud splattering noise echoed from far below.

'Why would he try to release that Shady thing' was the first thing Craig said, breaking the silence, looking out the shaft over the lit up city. It was truly beautiful.

'Power, that's all it was for, power' the Doctor whispered.

'And look what he got' Rose said softly. Craig put his arm around her.

Repple suddenly came down the stairs, Freddie in his arms. He was weak and covered in blood, but more or less ok. The Doctor rushed over to his side, taking the Sonic from Melissa and placing it over his leg. It buzzed for a couple of minutes, until the wound literally shrank until it vanished, completely resealed.

'And what do we do now, we still haven't found the Tardis' Rose pointed out.

'Ah, well, that's actually my doing' Melissa admitted, and she was soon met with three confused expressions, Rose holding some anger also.

'I believed you to be Shady Vassily, I took your travel machine so that you couldn't escape' she admitted.

'Right, and where do you fit into this Shady Vassily thing' Craig asked, this was very confusing.

'I was contacted, contacted by the mechanicals. They told me that Vassily was a prisoner sealed away from his kind to rust away as punishment for a crime against their kind. When Pooter built this chamber in the clock tower to reenergize him, they detected it and requested I seal him away again, I believed I was doing it for the greater good' she said, bowing her head slightly. The Doctor smiled at her.

'Well, you did you're job, Vassily can't get out of its ship now, the knight can deactivate itself, and Repple can live out the rest of his life in peace' the Doctor concluded, beaming away. Craig shook his head, absolutely anything could please that man!

…

Melissa had led them back to the scrapyard, where to their annoyance, the Tardis had been all along, hidden behind a towering pile of metal. Rose looked absolutely furious about that fact. She had them bid them farewell, after some minor flirting with the Doctor, though only on her part, whilst Craig was nearly breaking a rib trying to keep in his laughter. When she was gone, he was howling on the ground, clutching at his sides.

'Right, then, onwards' he asked once Craig had calmed down and wiped away his tears.

'Yeah, onwards' Rose nodded with a grin, glad to finally be able to get out of there.

'Right, I want a planet, you promised me a planet' Craig argued as they entered the Tardis.

'Yeah, but my adventure didn't go to plan' the Doctor countered. He was enjoying winding Craig up since he had laughed so much at him, that was a strangely human thing for a time lord to do…these humans were really making him different, and he was so happy of it!

'Oh No! Nuh huh, you promised, and anyway, nothing with you ever goes to plan' Craig grinned. The Doctor and Rose just laughed as he started up the engines, and with a loud whoosh, they finally left the dusty old scrapyard behind.

**...**

**And that's the end of The Clockwise Man. Let me know what you think of my reworking of a Doctor Who Novel, or just about anything to do with this story in general. Now, for my faithful readers, I'll give you a little sneeky comment about the next chapter. Once more I'm taking you into a whole new adventures, called 'The Blood Scales' which has a whole new species from the Time Lord legends, actually from one I made up ; ) Oh, and it has a very iconic blonde historical figure as one of the characters, so it's worth a look : ) **


	33. The Blood Scales, Iconic Blondes

**Hey everyone, sorry this took a bit longer then normal, it's just that I'd written this up and then completely disliked it, so I went back and changed it and made it so much better : ) Here is a story of my own creation, which I was actually going to include near the end of the story, but decided to bring it forwards as this point seemed good for it. As always, Doctor Who is not mine, but Craig Tyler is, as is this 'episode' as it is my own idea and written by me. Hope you enjoy The Blood Scales : )**

**...**

**The Blood Scales**

**The Blood Scales - Iconic Blondes**

When Craig had awoken, he had quickly showered in his bathroom and changed into a pair of black jeans, with a deep green hoodie. He really like wearing hoodies, so he hoped the Doctor wouldn't take them to too many hot places. He quickly dried his hair and straightened it to its normal state, before making for the kitchen, where he found the Doctor sitting in his usual leather jacket and trousers.

'Do you never get the urge to change' he asked without pretence.

'Good morning to you too' he chuckled as Craig began making himself some tea and toast.

'Hi, so do you?' he repeated.

'Nope, I told you before, I like my bad boy look' he said in an almost pouting tone.

'Well, I like my hoodies but I at least change the colour of them' Craig pointed out as he sat opposite them.

'Yeah, but I'd look weird wearing a bright yellow leather jacket wouldn't I?' he asked indignantly. Craig laughed loudly, that was so true. Rose suddenly slipped into the room.

'Hey, what's got him so amused' she asked with a grin as Craig kept laughing.

'Oh, just insulting my fashion sense' he chuckled and Rose giggled.

'So, where're we going today?' she asked excitedly. Craig stopped laughing and looked intently at the doctor. He had been promised a planet, and he was hoping it'd be a good one.

'Well, I've got a pretty good idea' he beamed. The three of them quickly ran all the way too the control room.

…

Once more the three of them were flung to the grated ground, laughing their heads off, as the Tardis thumped to a stop. It was a minor miracle none of them had suffered a serious injury by now, but Craig guessed that was part of the fun as he leapt to his feet. The Doctor and Rose copied him as he headed through the door. His face fell before he sharply rounded on the Doctor as he came out.

'Where's my planet' he demanded. He had been promised a new planet, but this was definitely earth. They were standing at the end of a dimly lit street with Victorian yet electric style street lights. There were few houses though; instead it was high stories shops, show lit up brightly, pouring light into the darkened street. Rose giggled as the Doctor flinched somewhat, sometimes Craig could be scary when annoyed.

'I…I thought you might like to see a show in the 1950's instead' he nearly whimpered.

'But…you promised' Craig protested 'I want my new planet' he cried indignantly.

'But it'll be good, I promise that instead, and I'll take you to a different planet soon, I swear, plus it's the fifties, old style films and acting, fantastic' he grinned, beaming even more when Craig looked deep in thought for a moment mere moments later.

'That… actually does sound good' he grinned, a show in the 1950s had to be worth a look!

'I think it sounds great fun' Rose laughed happily, and it did.

'Come on then' the Doctor grinned, taking Rose's arm, much like he had in 1869 Cardiff, and the three of them set off up the street. At the far end, and easily the most impressive building, stood a tall and mighty theatre, casting light all the way the street from its huge circular lights. A large red sign hung above the grand entrance, with its red carpet sprawling out into the street. Many people on the streets were heading in already, smiles on their faces, excitement in their voices. Something special must be on in there, Rose concluded as they stopped in front of it, looking up at the sign.

Craig scanned the different shows on inside, they were in red lights on the sign, trying to guess which one the Doctor had brought them for. 'Kiss me my Lover', not likely, 'Romeo and Juliet', nope, the Doctor was hardly a bleeding hearted romantic, just the thought was enough to nearly have him keeled over in stitches of laughter! 'Bad Wolf', nope, wait…Bad Wolf, again! They were here as well, he wasn't really sure why it surprized him anymore, he was really beginning to believe those words were following him. But what was it? What was the Bad Wolf? A message, a person, something trying to warn him about something? He had no clue, but he had already decided he wasn't going to bother worrying the Doctor when it might be nothing, just a coincidence; he was sure, well almost…well actually not at all. It was a bad excuse to himself and he knew it, but what was he supposed to say 'Hey Doctor, have you noticed that every time we go somewhere new, these two words are chasing after us' that would sound ridiculous!

The next name was 'Niagara' and that one rang a bell, but drama had been Rose's favourite topic in school whereas he had never had much of a taste for it. As she read it though, she let out a gasp and a squeal of excitement. He turned to face her, a bewildered and amused expression on his face.

'No way, is she really in there…' Rose breathed. The Doctor grinned widely and took her hand, the pair of them practically running as Craig closely followed, very confused at who this her could be and how Rose would knew her, but he also anticipating a really great show.

…

It was just like going to an old style cinema, Craig grinned as he sat next to Rose right at the back of the theatre, they were high up and could see everything. In their arms were popcorn and drinks, it was just like the cinema back home, but old style, it was great. On her other side sat the Doctor, a broad grin on his face, as the light dimmed and the curtains opened. The audience hushed to absolute. Craig jaw dropped, the Doctor grinned, and Rose laughed in delight. On the stage was a woman in a tight and short red dress, which revealed a little bit more than a little cleavage, and she was probably the most iconic blonde to have ever lived, with her bright red lipstick and tight blonde curls, she beautiful blue eyes shining, this woman was unmistakably the woman herself… Marilyn Monroe.

'NO WAY!' Craig cried, attracting several strange and annoyed looks from the audience around them. He quickly clamed a hand over his mouth, before he broke into delighted giggles, the Doctor had brought them to see Marilyn Monroe, priceless! Oh the teasing he could get from this! The Doctor and Rose were soon laughing with him, silently giggling as they tried their best to control their excitement as the show went on. And it did, and it was truly brilliant. Watching a show with Marilyn Monroe, whatever next!

…

Sadly too soon the show was ending, and everyone broke into enthusiastic applause as the actors and actresses all took a bow.

'That was fantastic' Craig beamed as they stood up to leave as the actors walked off the stage.

'Yeah, poor Rose though' Rose grinned. Marilyn Monroe's character was a girl named Rose Loomis, who sadly had been murdered by her husband and thrown over the falls. Considering this was 1953, it had been really well put on and looked pretty convincing.

'She was brilliant though' Craig thought aloud. He could see why she was to become such a renowned actress now he had witnessed her performance skills first hand.

'That was the screening, later it becomes a fully-fledged film' the Doctor chuckled.

'So, little sister, this is more your drama field then my history one, tell us about this then' Craig grinned as he put an arm around her shoulders.

'Niagara sparked off Marilyn Monroe's acting career. It was her first major film appearance, and became one of Fox's biggest box office hits ever. She really kinds stole the show from her co-stars, and it bolted her to a superstar. Then her next two films 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' and 'How to Marry a Millionaire' was even more successful' Rose explained, and the Doctor looked very impressed by her knowledge on the subject.

'Gentlemen prefer blondes eh? That's so true, that's why I did my hair this colour' Craig chuckled, brushing a flickers of said golden hair out of his face.

'And doesn't it much your human IQ perfectly' the Doctor teased with a laugh, laughing even more when Craig punched his shoulder lightly, but with a massive grin on his face.

'You're pretty well read up on Miss Monroe' the Doctor commented.

'Well, I used her as a case study in school, well before I left. She was my favorite actress because of the fact it was hard for a woman to strive in the fifties and she did it great. To see her in person was just, well…fantastic' she beamed.

'OK, I'll admit it, that was worth delaying my new planet for' Craig laughed, and he was soon joined by the others.

'I still can't believe it though, that really was Marilyn Monroe, I'll never get used to things and people like that' Rose giggled.

'Well where would the fun be if you did' the Doctor asked with a grin. Craig would be the first to admit he was right. The past, the future, time and space, it was incredible, beautiful, terrifying, and hilarious, all at once! He wouldn't give it up for the whole wide world, and he knew that Doctor was completely right, if it ever became ordinary then they'd be no point. He hoped it would always stay like that.

'They'd be none, I hope I never get used to it' Rose giggled.

'I'll say it though, that was pretty unexpected' Craig grinned.

'Well, there's one little surprize left yet' the Doctor beamed.

'Oh go on tell us, what is it?' Rose grinned, linking an arm through his. The Doctor silently drew out his psychic paper and waggled it before them, grinning from ear to ear. They were outside the showing room now, but instead of steering them towards the main exit, he took them into the dressing room area, using the paper to avoid any questions thrown their way.

'Oh no way, we're actually going to meet her?' Rose asked ecstatically whilst Craig grinned widely.

'Yep, what else is have the wonders of time travel for, to go meet famous and brilliant people' the Doctor beamed. They soon came upon a brown wooden door, a golden star shaped sign with 'Marilyn Monroe' engraved in it. He cautiously knocked.

'Come on in' came a joyous, bubbly reply. He pushed to door open, finding a large white room, a rail of different costumes to one side. The beautiful blonde was sitting in a chair at a large dressing table laden with makeup, looking into a large arch shaped mirror. It was a very typical dressing room. She quickly turned around to face them.

'Oh hello my doves, and how can I help you, and err, who might you be?' she smiled warmly at them. She clearly wasn't such a deva star Craig would have imagined her to be.

'My name's the Doctor, this is Rose and Craig Tyler, my friends and travelling companions. They're both fantastic' he grinned as he offered his hand, which she warmly took. Rose grinned at her enthusiastically, whilst Craig smiled kindly. Charles Dickens, Marilyn Monroe, who was next, Queen Victoria? Craig thought, his new life was just s… fantastic.

'I'm Jean, but nowadays everyone calls my Marilyn' she smiled at them.

'Oh everyone knows who you are, you're one of the best Stars ever' the Doctor grinned, causing her to blush.

'Why thank you, I must say this is an unexpected pleasure, most fans like to look at me, they rarely come to talk to me' she sighed happily.

'I can't see why, you're brilliant, and so clever' Rose praised.

'Thank you, not many people can see past, well… this' she gestured down at her still red dressed clad slender body.

'My little sister's always been a fan of your work' Craig put in to cheer her up. He grinned; he had a little idea about what was coming up, and with everything that had happened recently, he knew Rose could use something like that.

'Really, maybe we should have a little chat, I love hear feedback from my audience' she smiled warmly at Rose, whose face quickly lit up. Craig inwardly grinned, he had been right.

'Well, I'll go get some drinks then' Craig suggested, and with a nod from both females, he left, the Doctor quickly following him, not wanting to be stuck listening to two gossiping girls.

…

'Why'd you do that' the Doctor asked as they walked down the hall.

'Do what, no idea what you mean' he grinned. He knew perfectly well what the Doctor meant.

'Set Rose up talking with Marilyn Monroe' the Doctor clarified.

'Well, after everything that's happened recently, I thought she might like a distraction' he smiled.

'Why, what's happened recently?' the Doctor asked puzzled.

'Let's see, we nearly died fighting a vat of _living_ plastic, nearly burnt to a crisp by a sheet of skin, nearly turned into Zombies by ghosts, nearly froze to death on the Titanic, nearly blown apart by a missile, and nearly minced by clockwork knights, I thought she might like a chance to see someone amazing from the past, without a threat hanging over her' he rattled off.

'You're right, this is my life Craig, I know you told Jackie you're an adult now, but you're still young, but are you really sure you want to stay with me?' the Doctor wanted to know. He desperately wanted the answer to be yes, and thankfully he wasn't disappointed.

'Of course it is, that came out wrong, what I meant is that I thought Rose needed a bit of girly time fun rather then dangerous time fun' he clarified.

'And what about you, what do you need' the Doctor asked. These people were quickly becoming his best friends, he knew a little about Rose such as she had Mickey in her life, but Craig's past was still a little bit of a mystery, not that he was one to talk.

'Me? I'm fine, I love the travelling and running, I don't need anything else' he grinned, but something else was stirring behind his eyes. A kind of sadness, like he had lost something he cared greatly about, or maybe it was someone …

'Craig, I don't want to pry, but have you ever been in love with someone' he asked tentatively. Craig let out a sigh, just as they reached the lobby. He distracted himself by quickly filling some drinks. But the Doctor really wanted to know.

'Come on Craig, you never talk about yourself, not really' he pushed and Craig scoffed.

'Coming from you, I still know even know your name' he said defensively.

'I told you why I can't tell you' he sighed, followed by one from Craig.

'Yes, I fell in love, yes, I was engaged to him, no it didn't work out' he said, a light snap in his voice.

'Why not' he asked softly, he didn't want to push Craig, but they should really get to know each other better.

'He wanted something I could never give him' he shrugged, his eyes closed, his face pained. The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, when a loud scream rang through the night, Marilyn Monroe's scream.

…

'So tell me Rose Petal, have you ever been in on stage before?' Marilyn chirpily asked as she facing Rose on her sofa. She had just changed out of her costume and was now wearing a long white flowing dress, which if possible made her look even more beautiful.

'Not really, I loved it in school, but professional, never' she sighed, she would love to get up on a proper stage on day. It seemed that Marilyn picked up on this, for her face suddenly lit up.

'Come on, I've got an idea' she beamed, grabbing Rose's hand and practically dragging her out of the room, leading her back into the showing room. It was completely dark and empty now, it was kind of spooky, but that didn't slow the great actress down, and within second she and Rose were standing in the centre of the stage, right in front of a microphone.

'I bet you have a great singing voice, so I'll go first to show you how it's done and then you can have a go' she grinned and Rose's face lit up in excitement.

'That sounds great' she beamed. She was going to hear Marilyn Monroe sing in private! That was so amazing, so brilliant, so fantastic, it made her head spin just thinking about it! Marilyn cleared her throat, and opened her mouth, singing in the most wonderful voice.

'kiss, kiss me,

hold, hold me,

kiss me, hold me, kiss me, hold me...

kiss, kiss me  
say you miss, miss me  
kiss me love, with heavenly affection  
hold, hold me close to you  
hold me, see me through  
with all your heart's protection

thrill, thrill me  
with your charms  
take me, in your arms  
and make my life perfection  
kiss, kiss me darling  
then, kiss me once again  
make my dreams come true

this is the moment, oh thrill me

thrill me, thrill me with your charms  
take me, take me in your arms  
and make my life perfection  
take me, darling don't forsake me  
kiss me  
hold me tight  
love me, love me tonight

kiss me, hold me, take me, love me, kiss me, kiss me, kiss me' she finished, and Rose clapped enthusiastically, that was so amazing, she was nearly crying from the beauty of it.

'That was so…beautiful' she breathed in awe.

'Aw, thanks Rose Petal' she smiled happily.

'Your turn' she added a few seconds later, she was really enjoying herself, she never got a chance to do this with a fan that actually didn't just she her as a pretty face. Rose looked a bit unsure, but shrugged and moved forwards. She was just preparing herself, when there was a crash from outside, it sounded like something had been knocked over.

'What was that?' Rose questioned suspiciously, maybe she had spent too much time with the Doctor, it was making her think like him.

'Not sure Rose Petal' Marilyn shrugged.

'Come on, let's go check it out' she said, even though it might be nothing, that bubbling feeling of excitement was rising within her, and she loved it!

'It could just be a cat' Marilyn reasoned as Rose pushed open the fire escape and stepped out into the night. They were around the back of the theatre. A bin lay on its side, blocking the darkened alley into the street beyond. She nearly fell over as she skidded over on something slippery on the ground. She looked down, and pale at the sight as a loud pool of blood.

'Oh my god' Marilyn cried as she spotted. Suddenly, there came a second crash and Rose whipped around in the direction of it, but she couldn't see a thing. That's why she nearly leapt out of her skin when Marilyn let out a blood chilling scream.

**...**

**And there's part one of The Blood Scales and the promised Iconic Blonde. I know it doesn't make much sense as to why it's called that, but I promise it will in the next chapter. You see in the original version it was, but I'd kind of just thrown Marilyn in without much of an introduction, so I went back to change that, and this seemed a better place to stop. I hope I did her justice. As always, feel free to tell me what you think by review, and tell me what you think Craig's 'He wanted something I could never give him' could possible mean : ) I could be a little while with the next chapter as since this was rewritten I need to make amendments to it, but hopefully it shouldn't take to long ; )**


	34. The Blood Scales, Angry Dragons Within

**And Here's part two! Hopefully it should be a little clearer as to why it's called The Blood Scales, and has a new race of creatures and planet made up be me, written by me, and starring our favourite time travelling trio ; ) As always, I don't own Doctor Who, but I do own Craig Tyler! Read on and review if you so see fit : )**

**...**

**The Blood Scales – Angry Dragons Within**

The screaming kept going, it was definitely Marilyn's, and they were coming from the back of the theatre, outside. The Doctor and Craig raced through the theatre showing room and out the open fire escape, only to find Marilyn screaming her heart out, now in a different outfit, and Rose looking around in bewilderment.

'HELP US' she wailed as they approached.

'It's alright, just tell us what's wrong' Rose said as she quickly ran over to her side, putting a comforting arm around her.

'THERE, ITS THERE' she all but shrieked, pointing just past the Doctor. Their heads snapped around in the direction she was pointing in, but there was nothing there.

'What, where is it?' Craig asked in confusion. The Doctor frowned still, deep in thought.

'It's there, right in front of you' Monroe gasped. Craig keeping looking, but couldn't see anything.

'I can't see anything' Rose whispered in an attempt of a soothing voice, but a moment later, the actress clearly couldn't take it anymore, and fled through the open door, back into the theatre.

'Well, that was strange' Craig commented.

'It was like only she could see it' Rose commented. The Doctor crouched down to the ground, and took out his Sonic Screwdriver, it began to buzz as he pointed it around.

'What, so she's hallucinating' Craig asked. He hadn't been expecting this that was for sure. The Doctor suddenly stood back up.

'Oh no she's not, an alien was here tonight, and only Marilyn Monroe can see it' he said grimly. Suddenly there was a huge gust of wind that seemed to be forced towards them, almost pushing them backward. It was like something had sent a wave of air downwards, like something taking off in flight. The Doctor frowned slightly before he briskly walked through the door, two bewildered Tylers walking in after him.

…

The Doctor had practically run all the way down a corridor crowded with various props and doorways until they arrived back at Marilyn's room. She was sat in her chair, tears rolling down her face. Rose immediately went to her side and put her arms around her to comfort her.

'Marilyn, what was it, what did you see that terrified you so much' she asked in a soothing voice.

'A creature, oh such a terrible creature' she breathed fearfully.

'But what did it look like' the Doctor pressed on urgently. Craig discreetly kicked him lightly, and when the Doctor turned to him he lightly glared. The Doctor sighed, Craig was right, he needed to be gentler.

'Its body was like that of a lizard, its claws were long and sharp, a dull grey. It neck was long and encrusted in scales, as was its long tail and tail blade. It face, oh its terrible face, had haunting scarlet eyes and needle sharp fangs, and deep grey horns. It had wings and they were massive, leathery but also like liquid. All of it, it seemed to flow like bright red water, like blood' she described, a far off but fearful expression on her face. There was only one thing Craig could imagine from that description, but there was no way…

'You're kidding me, Doctor, it can't be can it…' he trailed off in disbelief.

'Oh yes it can, it's a dragon!' he laughed. A dragon! A dragon that only Marilyn Monroe could see, that was just so… Fantastic!

…

There was a stunned silence, and Rose just gapped between the two of them. Beside her, Craig was doing the same.

'You actually mean that dragons exist?' she asked incredulously.

'You've seen talking trees and Slitheen and clockwork knights, but dragons are surprizing?' the Doctor teasingly asked.

'Well, it just seems a bit too fairy tale' Craig drily commented.

'I can assure there was nothing fairy tale about _that_ dragon' Marilyn huffed.

'No, I don't suppose there was' he sighed apologetically.

'So, is it a dragon or some alien equivalent?' Rose asked the Doctor nervously.

'Don't know yet, I'd need to find it first, but I don't know why only you can see it' the Doctor replied, the last part aimed at Marilyn.

'I might have a friend who can help, He's a psychic, maybe he could make sense of it' she shrugged in reply. The Doctor frowned, he didn't really believe in fortune telling. He was about to state as much, when he noticed Craig was looking at him with raised eyebrows.

'Humbug, what about Gwyneth' he pointed out, and the Doctor sighed, he was right after all.

'Ok then, let's go see this psychic' he sighed, and Craig smirked triumphantly, he loved it when the Doctor gave in to him, his face was just always priceless.

…

It turned out that Marilyn's friend lived just around the corner from the Theatre, that was how they had met, and that she was quite a believer in fortune telling and psychic readings. She was briskly leading them in the right direction, Rose was walking beside her, happily chatting away, whilst the Doctor and Craig were walking further behind.

'So, were we really just here for a show or did you know this was going on?' Craig asked suspiciously.

'Nope, nothing to do with me, but you have to admit it's exciting, a monster on the loose and Marilyn Monroe, fantastic' he grinned ear to ear and Craig laughed, he was right after all.

'So, this dragon, she said it looked like flowing water, red water like blood, what's that about' he asked curiously.

'Well, there were stories about a race of creatures called The Blood Dragons, but it was just a myth, whether they actually existed or not is something else' he shrugged.

'Well tell me the myth' Craig smiled softly.

'Thousands and Thousands of years ago, just after the Big Bang, one of the first creatures to ever evolve, born for fires burning across the sky, were the Blood Dragons, one of the mightiest civilisations to exist. There was supposedly a planet named Ignes-Sanguinis, a deep red planet, for of forests made of fire. An golden and silver ancient palace stood proudly at the centre of the burning planet, where the eldest and wisest dragon Ignitum lived; ruler of its citizens. The skies were supposedly bright orange and yellow, and the sun was pure burning white, its moon was jet black lined with golden rings. Planets were supposedly visible from the ground, and its stars were gold. But that's it, just a story, the Time Lords never confirmed it's reality, and no planet named Ignes-Sanguinis was ever found, or any planet even remotely like it' he sighed.

'It sounds incredible, it's a shame it might not be true then' Craig breathed, the image it painted to him was amazing, big swirling fires of deep red, whilst mighty old and young dragon sailed through its fiery skies, beautiful.

'I think it was just a story told on Gallifrey, there were other myths and legends told as bed time stories, but usually it's clear where they came from and why they're not real, but with The Blood Dragons…' he trailed off deep in thought. Just ahead of them, Marilyn and Rose suddenly came to a stop, and he was pulled from his thoughts. There were standing in front of a three storied house, grey and dull in its brick word, and it had a black gothic style roof. Its front windows towered above them, and it had dark spiked gates lining the front garden. Under the cover of night it was quite creepy.

'Cosy isn't it' Craig commented sarcastically, getting a chuckle from the others.

'His house is spooky, I'll agree, but he really is a lovely man' Marilyn smiled as she walked up to the door and knocked on it, her knocks loudly echoing.

'What's his name?' the Doctor asked, at the same instant the door opened.

'Daba Flow sir, and what is yours?' a male voice asked, and standing in the doorway was a man in his later twenties or early thirties, slim and wearing a dark purple waist coat and black trousers. They were both trimmed with golden thread. His hair was long and black, flowing around his face. He had broad shoulders and deep green eyes, a warm smile lining his features.

'Nice to meet ya, hello, I'm the Doctor, this is Rose and Craig Tyler' he smiled, taking the man's offered hand.

'They're helping me with the problem, the dragon you've told me about, I saw it tonight' Marilyn stated.

'Ah, the dragon' Daba said, a grin forming.

'You've seen it?' the Doctor asked curiously.

'Sort of, with my sight and not my eyes' he said mystically as he stood aside to let them in. the hallway was long and barely lit, covered in dust and cobwebs. The front room however was grey walled but more colourful with plush chairs and bright teacups on a set of sizes. A bookcase stood near the roaring fire, which was heavily fumed. A round wooden table stood with a flowing purplish pink cloth on it, and in the centre stood a glass orb with smoke inside, a crystal ball. The Doctor rolled his eyes, he couldn't believe he was here, a fortune tellers? What a load of rubbish!

'So, what do you know, of the Dragons of Blood' Daba asked.

'The Blood Dragons? Only what the legends say of them, but that's all they are, just legends' the Doctor said firmly.

'You sound so sure of that, man of the stars, man from Gallifrey' he gasped. He hunched over slightly, his eyes had changed to a sparkling silvery colour.

'What?' the Doctor frowned, how could he possible know that? Unless this Daba Flow wasn't what he seemed. Marilyn hurried to his side, helping him into a chair.

'Sorry, when the sight come to him he can't help what he says' she apologised, for him before turning to him.

'Wolfie, Wolfie it's alright, just, breathe deep' she soothed.

'Child of, the vortex, it burns within you' he gasped, looking at Rose.

'What does that mean?' she asked fearfully.

'And you, you shall live so very long, over and over again, all because of a golden goddess' he wheezed as his gaze turned to Craig.

'I don't understand' Craig said in confusion.

'Its power burns inside all three of you, the power of time; the powers of the Bad Wolf' he breathed, before he slumped forwards, fast asleep. The Doctor hurriedly scanned him with the Sonic Screwdriver. Craig looked scared, what was this Bad Wolf, what powers did it have? Rose was looking thoughtful, the Bad Wolf had stirred the memory of a painting in 1924 London, but a moment later she shrugged, just a coincidence.

…

'How is he?' Rose asked as Marilyn mopped Daba's brow with a damp cloth. She was keeping it wet from a bucket of icy cold water on the floor near the sofa. Craig was sat in a chair at the table, looking concerned, the Doctor was pacing around.

'He will be alright, it just makes him so weak' she sighed, a small smile on her face as she looked at him, which Rose immediately noticed.

'Are you and him…' he trailed off.

'Not really, he's a great friend, and I love him as such, but I'm afraid all he will see is, this…' she gestured at herself.

'You want to been seen as who you are, not what you look like' Rose smiled and Marilyn nodded. Daba began to softly stir. All eyes quickly turned to him.

'Hush now, it's alright Wolfie, it's over' she soothed.

'Urrr, it's getting worse' he moaned.

'What is?' the Doctor sharply asked. He was not happy, he wanted to know exactly how Daba had seen all that he had, and what it could possible mean, none of it made much sense.

'The Dragon, it gives me the sight, but it's getting stronger, it hurts' he said painfully, his face scrunched up.

'Tell us about it, can you see where it is?' the Doctor asked quickly.

'No, I can't, all I know is of how it arrived' he cried out, his voice shaking.

'It's alright Wolfie, just stay calm' Marilyn soothed, gently taking his hand.

'Why do you call him Wolfie' Craig suddenly asked. He had a bad feeling about this.

'Oh, it's just my little joke, Flow spelt backwards is Wolf' she smiled. Yep, Craig had thought as much, because as he had sat quietly, he had realised that, and he had also realised something else, Daba, D.A.B.A, spelt that backwards and it was A.B.A.D, A bad, his full name backwards was A Bad Wolf, this was getting seriously scary now. Three times it had shown up today, three, it had to mean something, like something was coming for them, the bad wolf was on its way, just as Gwyneth had warned them, had warned him. He shivered; it was really starting to scare him now.

'Daba, can you tell us what you know?' Rose asked softly, taking his other hand to comfort him and let him know they could be trusted. With a shaky nod, he began his story.

'Hundreds of years ago, a meteor fell to earth, burning all the way. It hid itself in the earth's layers and remained there for decades to come. Soon enough the city was built over it; the theatre directly above it. But something lived inside it, small golden glowing orb like seeds burned within, but they were going out, one by one, until only the last remained. Somehow it brought free, and is now draining it's victims of blood, it somehow uses it to rebuilt and grow bigger, soon it shall be strong enough to take this world' he voice turned harsh at the end, his eyes glowed scarlet. Rose and Marilyn shrieked and jumped back as the Doctor raced to get in front of them, protectively in front of Rose.

'What are you' he demanded of the man they thought was Daba.

'I…Am…ARISING' he bellowed. He began to shake violently, before he literally exploded into a red ball of fire, it grow it diameter until it warped and changed, into the form Marilyn had described. It was the remaining dragon. Rose and Craig both gasped in surprize, whilst Marilyn paled and looked quite faint.

'I…am the…last Blood Dragon' it huffed, smoke coming out of its nostrils.

'So they are real' the Doctor breathed, he hadn't been expecting this at all when the day had started. The dragon didn't reply.

'So, what's your name then' he asked with a grin. Craig scowled at him, they were standing in front of a murderous looking dragon, and the Doctor was grinning.

'I…am… Ignitum, I will…restore my kind' he huffed.

'How?' the Doctor asked.

'I…will… past on my bite… to this planet… Ignes-Sanguinis will live…again' he appeared to grin, revealing his fangs.

'Oh busy schedule, but first you have to get through me' the Doctor said mockingly.

'That shall be a pleasure, since this is your fault' Ignitum roared, thrashing his tail about, slamming it into the wall. Chunks of rubble fell to the ground as Marilyn shrieked again.

'How is it my fault' the Doctor asked wearily.

'Your kind, we hid from you, but we were dragged into your war, the Time War' he hissed. The Doctor's face darkened as it always did at the mention of the war. It really was his fault then, he thought miserably.

'Our planet was extinguished… it's heart when out… without out it's heat … my people began to die… To save my kind from extinction … I gave up my body… regressed into a Fire Seed… and took several others in a meteor ship to escape' he explained.

'Then let me help, I can take you and your remaining kind away from Earth, find you a new planet to start again' the Doctor quickly offered.

'Never… I shall remain on this planet… and make its people my own, starting with Miss Marilyn Monroe' Ignitum hissed. Marilyn looked terrified, whilst the Doctor frowned in confusion and sadness, he really wanted to help, too not make the Blood Dragons extinct, but if he had too he would.

'Why do you want her though, out of everyone on this planet, why specifically Marilyn' Rose asked in curiosit.

'She brought me out of hibernation' he snarled.

'How?' the Doctor demanded. What could she have done to wake him up?

'The heat… of the theatre' he hissed, glaring at them.

'The heat, think about it, spot lights, body heat, heating, all that combined heat' the Doctor realised.

'So many people wanted to see Marilyn Monroe' Rose gasped.

'Ignited my core enough to revive my mind, I just needed to draw blood' he snarled a grin.

'How many?' the Doctor asked solemnly, whilst Craig and Rose both looked confused.

'Two dozen' the great dragon grinned.

'Two dozen what' Craig spoke up.

'Two dozen humans, he drained them of blood to build up his body' the Doctor said, his voice void of emotion. He glared coldly at the murderous creature before him.

'Oh my god' Rose whimpered, as Craig put a comforting arm around her. He glared at the chuckling dragon, it didn't care at all that it had robbed twenty four people of their lives, just to save its own, maybe that what the universe was, just cold and cruel.

'With the first... as my template' Ignitum elaborated with a hiss.

'But how? and why could only Marilyn see you before?' Craig asked. The Doctor smiled slightly, the Tyler were always asking questions, and good questions at that.

'My kind were… blessed with what… you'd called psychic abilities… it's how we keep our blood… in the correct shape… and how we can collect it... I can only be seen by… those I want to see me' he snarled.

'And you let Marilyn see you because you want her blood' the Doctor realised.

'And now…I am strong enough… to pass on my genes' he grinned.

'Over my dead body' the Doctor spat.

'My thoughts exactly' Ignitum sneered as he lunged at them, his claws raised, his fangs bared, ready to kill, ready to kill them all.

**...**

**And there is it ; ) A fair bit of forewarning in this chapter which is nice thanks to a certain psychic dragon baddie. That's kind of a back part for the Blood Scales, because unlike with my Titanic story, I didn't drop in any hints about this adventure, so instead I'm using it to hint at others, so you'll need to read carefully to catch them, but some of them will only make sense once the adventure is posted, so be patient ; ) Oh, and the Bad Wolf is getting terrifying for Craig, how will he deal with this, hmmm, no idea yet ; ) Please left me know what you think about this new species, or about anything else, and I hope you're enjoying The Blood Scales : )**


	35. The Blood Scales, Fire Seeds

**Hey everyone, here's part three, so enjoy : ) Not really much to say here, just want to thank all those who reviewed the last chapter and hope they continue doing so: ) But other than that, just that Doctor Who isn't mine, but Craig Tyler and The Blood Dragons are ; ) Hope you enjoy : )**

**...**

**The Blood Scales – Fire Seeds**

As Marilyn screamed, Craig yelled and Rose shrieked, but the Doctor remained calm and seized the bucket of water near the sofa, throwing it all over Ignitum. He snarled and hissed, thrashing about, sending the furniture flying as he howled with pain. He needed heat to live, and now he was soaking.

'Run, out, now!' the Doctor ordered and the house of them fled the room. They emerged onto the now empty street and bolted down the road towards the theatre, as Ignitum burst through one of the windows, showering the garden below with glass. They all ducked as he swooped on them, but he missed. The theatre had been closed for the night, but thanks to the Sonic, they managed to slip inside unnoticed. It was pitch black and cold inside, it was startling how a place can go from being so welcoming and packed to empty and creepy in such a short amount of time. They sound of claws scraping against concrete outside could be clearly heard, Ignitus knew exactly where they were.

'Right, let's hope the theatre will keep him out for a while' the Doctor said as he led them into the actually theatre they had seen the show in.

'Yeah, but how do we stop him' Craig wanted to know.

'He said he wants to pass on his genes to everyone on the planet, how's he going to do that' the Doctor asked aloud.

'He said with a bite' Rose put in hurriedly. It was clear she was scared, so Craig gently took her hand as the Doctor paced up and down the aisle.

'Right, passing DNA through a wound and setting off a conversion' the Doctor said thoughtfully.

'He said he wanted you first' he said turning to Marilyn.

'It wants my blood' she stated fearfully.

'Yes because you woke it up' he quickly replied.

'But he only wants the planet because it's the last of its kind, if there were others, do you think he'd leave' Craig asked, somewhat worriedly by the fact there was bangs pounding in the distance, and the image of a great red dragon banging against the wall immediately sprang to his mind.

'Maybe, but think about it, what's inside blood' the Doctor asked aloud.

'I don't know, DNA, oxygen, defences for the body against illness' Rose said quickly as the pounding became louder by the second.

'DNA, that's it, it takes the DNA of the people it drains and incorporates it into its mind and body, it takes their essence their soul' the Doctor realised ecstatically.

'And that's good because…' Craig asked drily. It didn't make much sense to him as to where this was going.

'It's terrible, Ignitum must have taken the DNA of an angry and lonely human and it became a part of him, but… if we can somehow add more blood to him, kinder blood…' the Doctor trailed off. He looked deep in thought and Craig gasped as he realised what he was planning.

'No way, I won't let you!' he yelped in horror.

'I might have too' the Doctor said sadly, and Craig frantically shook his head.

'You can't, he'd drain you completely, you'd die' he protested.

'And I could save the last Blood Dragon' the Doctor countered.

'And make the Time Lords extinct' Rose pointed out, tears spring to her eyes at the thought. She wouldn't let her best friend be drained of blood, not by a dragon, not by anything.

'But Ignitum didn't say that he would always absorb blood, it sounded like only he could control it' Marilyn put in. silence fell between them for a few moments, until Craig got an idea.

'We're in the theatre, right above that Meteor, can't we get to it, use it somehow' he asked. The Doctor thought about it for a moment.

'Right, Ignitum said he was the last of his kind, but he also said he told several Fire Seeds which they grow from with him in the meteor, maybe they're still down there, hibernating, not dead but dormant, we wake them up…' he trailed off.

'And Ignitum might leave' Rose concluded.

'Or he might use them to take over completely' Marilyn noted fearfully.

'Other than this, we don't have much of a chose' the Doctor replied as he whipped out his Sonic Screwdriver, and began walking around the room, pointing it at the floor. He was clearly trying to detect the meteor. He suddenly stopped, just in front of the stage.

'Found it' he beamed.

'The thing is, even though we've found it, how do we get down to it' Craig asked as he spotted the fault in the plan.

'Ignitum's seed got out, so there must be some way' Rose pointed out. The Doctor face lit up.

'That's it, Heat! We don't need the meteor, just enough heat to draw the seeds up to us' he beamed, running over to the spotlights and turning them all on full brightness, aiming them at the spot where the meteor lay buried. It was nearly blinding, and they all quickly shielded their eyes.

'Could have used a warning, just so you know' Craig commented sarcastically as he dazedly blinked.

'Go and see if they're anything else hot we can use, I'll try and whack up the heat on these' he replied, ignoring his comment, as he waggled the Sonic in the direction of the lights. Rose and Marilyn left the room together, trying to ignore the sounds of the great dragon outside, but Craig opted to stay with the Doctor, just in case he was needed.

…

'So tell me Rose Petal, you and Craig and the Doctor, you all seem very calm about this' Marilyn commented as they wheeled some lights from the lobby down the hallway.

'Well, it's not the first time we've come across something like this' Rose shrugged casually.

'It's not the first time you've seen a great big dragon that's made of blood from out of space?' she asked incredulously and Rose chuckled.

'Well, that's a first, but the things I've seen, all thanks to the Doctor' Rose smiled at the thought, the memories floating through her mind. Marilyn smiled knowingly at her.

'So, you and that Doctor, are you…' she smiled coyly.

'What, no, no we're just friends' she shook her head, but the smile she wore didn't quite meet her eyes, but Marilyn chose not to comment on it, after all, love wasn't something you could force. They were back outside the door now, and pushing them open, they wheeled the lights back in, frowning in surprize when they found it absent of the Doctor and Craig.

…

'Are you out of your mind?!' Craig demanded angrily, and the Doctor looked up in surprize.

'What?' he frowned as Craig angrily advanced on him.

'Saying you'd sacrifice yourself to change that dragon' he snapped.

'It's what I do Craig, I thought you understood that' the Doctor countered in confusion.

'Yeah, but there's a difference willing to die to do what's right, and just being plain stupid. What do you think it would do to me if you died? What would it do to Rose?' he demanded with a stony glare. You could see it happening, even if they didn't, and he would not let the Doctor, no matter how fantastic he was, he would not hurt his baby sister, never ever, nobody would.

'Alright, I'm sorry, but in all fairness, it might have been the only way' the Doctor said looking at the ground.

'Don't care, you'll never let your life go without a fight, and if you won't, I will' Craig said with determination. The Doctor chuckled slightly, he was about to reply and a slightly teasing but serious comment that he could look after himself, when a faint popping noise caught their attention. They looked down at the ground in surprize to see six small golden balls literally oozing out of the floor.

'There! Fire seeds!' the Doctor beamed as the pair of them crouched down for a better look.

'What, and feed them blood and they'll become a dragon?' Craig asked as he propped one with his finger. He yelped in surprize at the heat of it, he knew it would be warm, but it was scorching.

'Stupid human' the Doctor rolled his eyes fondly, laughing as a chuckling Craig slapped his arm.

'Right, so, now we just feed them a little blood, and puff, no more last of the Blood Dragons, they can start again' he grinned as he shrugged an arm of his jacket and carefully gripped the seeds, jumping to his feet. Laughing at his energy, Craig easily matched it, trying to jump higher, succeeding too.

'Oh you're such a child, but you can't beat me' the Doctor grinned, running up the aisle and out into the corridor at full speed. Roaring with laughter, Craig raced off after him in pursuit.

'Where's the finish line?' he called after the Doctor. He was only a few feet behind and quickly gaining on him.

'The main door' the Doctor laughed, pouting slightly when Craig overtook him. He chased after the blonde, mockingly sighing when Craig beat him to the door.

'WOOHOO, WOOHOO, I WIN, I WIN' Craig sang as he did a bobbing victory dance.

'Yeah, yeah, you win, come on now though' the Doctor smiled as he led him outside.

'Now where are we going?' Craig asked, slightly out of breath but still grinning.

'We're going to offer Ignitum a choice' he said sharply.

'And what might that be… Doctor' a voice hissed, and turning, they saw Ignitum stalking up the alley towards them.

…

'Oh, so where have they go' Marilyn huffed slightly. Rose was silently turning on the spot, looking around the room. She suddenly stopped, noticing the floor was slightly reddened in one area, like something very hot had been there.

'There, look there, the seeds must have come up there' she cried, pointing it out to Marilyn.

'Great, I think…' she shrugged.

'But what would the Doctor do next…' Rose trailed off in thought, before it hit her; she knew exactly what he would do next.

'Oh no' she whispered, this would not end well. Next thing Marilyn knew, Rose was running for the doors. Running to save the Doctor from him own methods of his madness.

…

The Doctor was standing slightly in front of Craig to protect him from harm as the back away down the alley as the dragon drew closer and closer to them. He sneered coldly at them, relishing in their fear.

'So… This choice you mentioned… Doctor?' he snarled.

'I have six Fire Seeds, Six more of your kind, you leave this planet and its people alone, and they're yours' the Doctor said bravely. Ignitum laughed loudly, like that would work!

'Well here's a choice… for you Doctor… either you give them to me… or I'll drain our little friend here dry' he said, and a second later he slashed with his tail blade, just clipping Craig's temple but enough to send him crashing to the floor.

'Craig!' the Doctor cried. Craig weakly sat up, rubbing his temple. There was a small gash there, it wasn't too serious, but if Ignitum used it…

'I'm fine' he muttered, his hand getting drenched in blood. His hair was already turning a deep red from where the wound was open.

'YOU!' the Doctor roared, turning to the laughing dragon, glaring daggers at him.

'Just for that, I think I'll teach you a lesson you coward' he spat, whipping out his Sonic Screwdriver and aiming it at the seeds. Instantly Ignitum's grin before a snarl.

'I think not' he yelled, slashing with his claws not. The Doctor fell to his knees, a great slash against his torso. He groaned slightly as a wave of red blood drifted through the air, getting pulled into the dragon, who was literally growing before their eyes. He moaned in pleasure as he cackled.

'No… Doctor' Craig whispered, he wanted more than anything to help, but there was nothing he could do, he couldn't even find the strength to move, as the blood was being pulled from him too. They were both going to die, drained into an evil dragon; that was so NOT fantastic.

**...**

**Wow, little intense, and now they're both being drained into a giant bonkers dragon, not great, but certainly not the end ; ) So, Craig is a little more playful with the Doctor, but that's who I see him as, a fun loving child on the inside, a pretty boy on the outside, with protectiveness and a little attitude thrown in for good measure! Can't wait until him and ten can get started, not as a pairing but as friends. So, next chapter is the final part of the Blood Scales, and after that it's the second book; The Monsters Within (Sorry those who want to see Dalek, but this comes first). As always, Read and Review, and fear not, the wait shall not be long : )**


	36. The Blood Scales, Singing of a Rose

**And here's the last part of this adventure! Not really sure what I think about it, I don't think it's as good as normal, I'm a little clogged up with a cold right now, but I think it's alright ; ) As always, I don't own Doctor Who, but I do own The Blood Dragons and Craig Tyler. Hope you enjoy, but be careful, for The Leader of The Blood Dragons' fires will burn unless he's stopped...**

**...**

**The Blood Scales – Singing of a Rose**

Rose burst out of the door, Marilyn right behind her, and she gasped at the sight before them. The Doctor was on his knees, a great slash in his chest, her brother was slumped against the wall, breathing but bleeding from his head. They were both pouring into Ignitum who was cackling madly.

'Craig, Doctor are you alright!' she shrieked, racing to get to their sides.

'Check, Craig' the Doctor said weakly, noting Craig was paling a look quicker than he was. Rose shuffled across, cupping her big brother's face in her hand. She looked into his eyes, noting they were drifting shut.

'No, Craig don't close your eyes' she whispered, kissing his cheek.

'The seeds, use them' he whispered as he drifted into unconsciousness. Rose looked around, noting the doctor had several small golden orbs in his hand, these had to be them. The Doctor sank forwards, now on both his hands and knees, howling in pain. The seeds slipped from his grip.

'You see… Doctor… I win' Ignitum chuckled. Marilyn gasped as she went to Rose's side, trying to help her get the Doctor back to his sitting position, but he couldn't even find the strength to hold himself up.

'I… shall rule this world… and my fires… shall burn' the great dragon hissed. Marilyn's face began to shine with silent tears of terror, and Rose wanted to join her. She needed to stop him, to save her big brother, and the man she…liked, her best friend! She just had to think. The seeds, the blood, the template, they made the dragons… that was it!

She seized the seeds, all six of them, screaming as they scorched her skin, burning it away, but she fought through the pain. She threw them as hard as she could; they melted into the wave of blood coming from the Doctor and Craig. She saw them change into a bloody scarlet colour, glowing like red stars, before they faded into the blood stream and were absorbed into Ignitum. He immediately stopped draining the blood; it splattered across the ground, staining it a horrid red.

Ignitum was howling in pain, he seemed to be bubbling and warping, his shape bulging and deflating like there was too much air inside him. it was so weird. He yelled and screamed.

'WHAT…HAVE YOU… DONE' he bellowed, before with a resounding bang, he exploded into drops of blood. They appeared to burst outwards, before swirling and floating through the air into six red glowing spheres. As one they floated through the air, before warping and growing, changing into a new shape. They looked a bit like Ignitum, but much small, more innocent, and so cute! Six baby blood dragons, all of them fast asleep, having just been born.

The Doctor groaned but was smiling as he forced himself to his feet. Craig gently came too, and Rose pulled him to his feet, his arm around her neck as he supported him. she winced as he accidently touched her burnt hand.

'My god, what happened?' Marilyn wanted to know.

'The seeds, they absorbed him' Rose panted slightly.

'Fantastic, Rose Tyler you're fantastic!' the Doctor beamed at her proudly.

'Nice one Baby Sis' Craig weakly added, groaning as he pressed a hand to his head. There was a small growling sound, and looking down, they grinned at the sight of the six baby dragons hovering slightly.

'Oh, they're so cute, can we keep one' Rose begged.

'Sorry but nope, their species needs all of them, but look, there they go, fantastic' the Doctor grinned as the dragons seemed to gain control over their wings, and the next moment, they were off, flying through the sky, packed in together until they became six red star like lights before fading into the darkness.

'So what'll happen now' Marilyn grinned.

'They'll find a new world, probably Venus or Mercury, somewhere hot and settle down, the Blood Dragons can start again'

'And they won't be corrupted' Craig quietly asked.

'Nope, you see Rose cleverly threw the seeds into the wave of our blood, they got us as their template and just couldn't help but absorb Ignitum, they'll be good now' he grinned.

'Well then, I'd call it a good day's work' Rose beamed.

'Come on then, Tardis, I'll fix us up' the Doctor said softly, leading them down the alley and into the main street, heading for the police box at the other end.

…

The Doctor was pouting as Craig had forced him into the pilot seat. He had fixed up the blonde and the gash was gone, he'd be a little weak for a couple of hours, but other than that Craig would be fine. And Rose's burn had been easily fixed, but the Doctor admitted he couldn't use the Tardis's equipment to fix himself, not without a larger risk since the wound was close to his hearts. Their mouths had dropped open at this, and he quickly explained that Time Lords had two hearts. Craig had than immediately taken charge, and order him into the seat. When he refused, he carefully, and forcefully, tackled him into the chair, ordered Rose to go find some bandages, and proceeded to slowly remove the Doctor's jumper. The Doctor gritted his teeth, and then sighed.

'Oh, why do you have so much Jackie in you' he protested.

'Button it, you might be a doctor, but you can't run around with this wound, I'm going to bandage it up and we're staying still for a couple of days, no arguments' he added when the Doctor opened his mouth to argue. He snapped it shut, he knew a lost cause when he saw it. Craig soon had he bandaged up and was helping him into a dark blue jumper, since his normal one was now ruined.

He looked up and let out a light chuckle. Marilyn's mouth had been hanging open since she had first stepped into the Tardis, and thjat had been a good fifteen minutes ago.

'It's alright, this is our ship' Rose said soothingly to her. This seemed to bring the actress out of her shock.

'Ok, so, you're time travellers, one of which is an alien with two hearts, you fight monsters and your ship is bigger than it is on the outside' she whispered.

'Yep, sums it up nicely' the Doctor grinned. all she could do was nod, before a thought seemed to hit her.

'You know something?' she asked, looking at Rose.

'Nope, what?' she asked and both the Doctor and Craig looked curious.

'I never got to hear your singing voice Rose Petal' she grinned and Rose let out a deep sigh.

'I thought you'd forgotten' she almost whined.

'Nope, come on' Marilyn grinned, looping arms with her and leading her back outside. Bemused, the Doctor and Craig followed them.

…

'Right then, prepare for the greatest show on Earth, Rose Tyler, singing her heart out for us lucky few to hear' Marilyn beamed as she sat in between the chuckling Doctor and a grinning Craig right in the middle of the front row. Rose was standing a little nervously in the centre of the stage, but she soon found her confidence and opened her mouth in song, singing the words which seemed to naturally come without too much thought.

'It's… so…amaze…ing

'It's stunning, it's fantastic,

It's beautiful, it's magic

'He is… so crazy

He makes laugh insanely

All the while I'm changing

There is… sometimes danger

But as I've got my stranger

I will… be ok

If he has anything to say

Take me, T…T…Take Me,

All the way through time

Across the whole of space

Show Me, Sh…Sh…Show Me

The wonders of the galaxies

The universe's beauty

Oh, you're my Doctor

The last, time lord

You are, Fan…tastical

You're, Extra-terrestrial.

I've, seen the future

And the past of the world

And, it's amazing

Ever…lasting

With a madman with a box

Big…ger than it looks

It's… supernatural

It… Isn't earth terrestrial

'Take me, T…T…Take Me,

All the way through time

Across the whole of space

Show Me, Sh…Sh…Show Me

The wonders of the galaxies

The universe's beauty' she finished. Instantly she was met by the excited applause of three people as she jumped down from the stage as they stood up around her.

'That was fantastic' the Doctor laughed.

'Super, oh bravo Rose Petal' Marilyn clapped enthusiastically

'Amazing baby sister' Craig added with a grin she just smiled, happy to have the praise of her best friend, her big bro, and the best star to have ever lived.

…

'So what happens in this thing then? I mean, I get that it's your ship, but what actually happens' Marilyn asked. The four of them were standing outside the Tardis, they were about to say their goodbyes to the famous actress.

'Well, it can take us anywhere' Craig shrugged whilst he grinned.

'But tell me, are there others out there, not just the Blood Dragons?' she asked, looking up at the stars.

'Oh, so many, thousands of kinds' the Doctor smiled softly, several of them flickering through the front of his mind.

'It's amazing, but there's just one other thing, who are you?' she asked the Doctor. He just smiled, waggled his eyebrows at her, and stepped back into the Tardis. Craig just kissed her cheek, grinned at her one last time, and followed the Doctor.

'We're just, fantastic friends, passing through' Rose smiled as she took her hands for a moment, looking at her, beaming away, before she too went into the Tardis, shutting the door behind her.

…

'Thank you' she said as she joined the others at the controls. She was so glad they had gone there to see her, even if it hadn't exactly gone to plan.

'Anytime, she was fantastic, so, what's next' the Doctor replied with a smile.

'I told you, we're resting, we nearly died… again' Craig said firmly.

'Yes sir' the Doctor cheekily replied, and Rose and Craig both laughed.

'Right, on more surprize for my Miss Marilyn Monroe' Rose grinned. They watched on the scanner as the Tardis faded, and just like with Charles and Gwyneth, her jaw dropped, and the big blue box, took them onwards through time.

**...**

**And there's The Blood Scales, not my best work, but I'm a feeling little rough at the minute, but it's not bad, and I just wanted this finished. So Rose is a great singer, well in this she is, I don't know if she was in canon, but never mind : ) Oh, and updates might be a little longer now, since I've started a second story, so for all those who also like Digimon, give it a look. As always, feel free to leave a review, and I hope you look forward to 'The Monster's Within' : )**


	37. The Monsters Inside, Prison Life

**Hi! Soooooo Sorry about the long wait, but I just couldn't seem to get this going, writers block or something, so I went onto other things and then back to this to try and get 'The Monsters Inside' started before the weekend. Away, here's part one of it. As always, Doctor Who is not mine, nor in this case is The Monster's Inside, but Craig Tyler is mine : ) And a warning, a little dark theme creeping in for Craig, but it's not too bad, just a warning! Hope you enjoy!**

**...**

**The Monsters Inside**

**The Monsters Inside, Prison Life**

It had been a few days since the near miss with the Blood Dragon, but they were all fully healed up and raring to go, and so with a little bump, the Tardis landed, and the three of the grinned at each other as they exited through the door.

'Finally, my new planet' Craig beamed as he looked around. They had landed on a rocky terrain like place, but it was a pale blue colour. The sky was a sky of dusky blue, and the sun was bright white. Several other planets in various blues were clearly seen in the sky above them, some close, others further away.

'This is so, so fantastic. I'm here, Craig and Rose Tyler, standing on a different world' he grinned and he jumped up and down.

'New ground, and look, the sky's different' he laughed pointed up at said sky. The Doctor grinned at his enthusiasm; he loved taking humans with his for exactly this reason, their delighted reactions, their love for new things to see.

'It's official, we are somewhere else, somewhere new' Rose grinned as she span on the spot, but the Doctor was frowning slightly.

'This isn't right, I was aiming for a different planet, I've no idea where this is' he commented, and both Tyler's turned to face him, slightly anxious.

'It's like something in the area drew the Tardis off course' he elaborated. He began walking towards a lip in the cliff rise they were on, looking out at the area beneath them.

'That's, amazing' Craig breathed. Thousands of people were all working together to build gigantic pyramid, all the same pale blue colour. The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of clicking cut him off, it was the sound of a gun's safety being taken off. They slowly turned on the spot, their hands in the air in surrender.

'Always, there's always trouble isn't there' Craig complained. Four men were standing there, all dressed in black uniforms and caps, their guns carefully trained on them. A whip was hanging from each of the belt, thick and brown and looking lethally painful, whilst the guns were all large and bulky, and looked different to a gun in their time, it was clearly from the future.

'You're all under arrest' the man at the front commented with a sneer. His skin was dark and his eyes were nearly black, his mouth in a cruel smirk. He was clearly not someone to mess with.

'Yeah, you see about that…' the Doctor trailed off before bolting, Rose and Craig just behind him. The men all began firing after them, chasing them and ordering them to stop. Craig had always wondered why policemen tell you to stop, if you were running from one, you wouldn't just stop because they told you too!

It seemed the men were trained to be quick, because they soon caught up to them. The Doctor punched one, knocking him to the ground but another tackled him. Craig tried to help him but one caught him in the stomach with his foot, winding him. Rose clawed at the last man, but he soon had her restrain on the ground, her hands behind her back.

'LET THEM GO!' the Doctor yelled as the men dragged them all away, the leader chuckling slightly as he led them back the way they had come. The three of them kept struggling, but it was no good. They were stuck. None of them had noticed at first three silvery white spaceships, spherical in shape, with thick blue tinted windows which were strangely barred. The Doctor was dragged towards the one in the middle, Rose the one to the right, Craig the one to the left. They were all being taken to different places! Crap!

'Wherever they take you, I'll find you, you hear, I promise that I will get you both back' he called as he was roughly shoved inside. The spaceship hovered above them for a few seconds, before it was gone. The Doctor was gone.

'CRAIG' Rose screamed as she was forced into hers. She was clearly terrified. They had done nothing wrong, and now they were all being split up. She needed them both, she couldn't bare it if this was the last time she'd see her big bro.

'I'LL GET YOU, I PROMISE YOU' he yelled as he was dragged kicking all the way into his. He would rip the skies apart to get back to his baby sister and the Doctor; he would not stand for them being hurt.

…

The Doctor was dragged into a plain grey room, with nothing. No furniture, windows, and the door seemed to fade as he was shoved in. The only thing in there was a security camera hanging in the corner; he immediately went over to it.

'Where are Rose and Craig, where are they?!' he yelled at it. He was rather surprised when he actually got a response.

'Prisoners Rose Tyler and Craig Tyler have been taken to the prison ships, further questions shall not be answers' a buzzing computerized voice state.

'Prison ship?' the doctor thought for a moment, what had they done? The camera suddenly glowed a bright white; a beam of light fell on him.

'Scan indicates prisoner is non-human, his species is… unknown' the computer said and his attention snapped back to it. His eyes widened when a thick grey smoke began to pour out of it. He choked as he covered his mouth to try to resist breathing it in, but it was too late, for he was soon consumed by the darkness.

…

Craig was pushed into a chair and handcuffed to it, he tried to struggle, but with both arms strapped down; it was useless.

'Let me go now, and the Doctor and Rose' he yelled at a passing guard. He scoffed in reply. He was tall, dark skinned, with short black curled hair and dark eyed. He was rather large around the middle, and something about him gave Craig the creeps.

'You're my prisoner, I think you'll find I'll give the orders here' he laughed.

'Oh really, well order this, you let me go right now, OR I'LL PUT YOUR MOUTH ON THE OTHER SIDE YOUR FACE!' he bellowed in anger. He thrashed in his chair angrily, trying to break free. The man crouched in front of him, a grin plastered over his face. He put a mockingly calming hand on his cheek, infuriating Craig even more.

'Yeah yeah, sure you will' he smiled, laughing harshly when Craig struggled more. The ship suddenly came to a halt, they had arrived. The man smiled broadly.

'Welcome to your new home, Craig Tyler' he grinned.

'How do you know my name' Craig demanded, his eyes narrowed. This didn't seem like they had just been in the room place at the wrong time.

'Because you are my prisoner' he grinned evasively. Craig just glared at him as he went about uncuffing him from his chair, and cuffing him to his hand.

…

Rose was kicking and screaming insults at the two men dragging her out of the ship she had been stolen in. it had landed moments before that the ship had landed, and she found herself standing before a giant closed area, a barbed wire fence surround the dusty blue courtyard. A large grey building dominated the scene, its windows were all thick and barred. It was clearly a prison.

'I am Warder Blanc, this is my colleague Warder Norris, can your confirm your identity as Rose Tyler' one of them asked, a dark skinned man with bright brown eyes, with his deep voice.

'Yeah, but how do you know that?' she asked, other than her shouting Craig's name, none of them had mention her name and certainly not her surname.

'Sorry but all information about your case and how we obtained our information is classified, you can take it up with the Governor tomorrow' he sharply answered.

'No, no, no I want some answers, I was dragged here, to a prison, arrested and separated from my friends and I've done nothing wrong, so why?' she demanded angrily.

'You have been assigned to Detention Centre Six on Justica Beta, you will remain here for the duration of your sentence, you shall have no communication with the outside unless authorized, you will obey all orders without question, you may put in a plea with the governor, but as for now you must leave the ship and be checked in' he told her, his voice hard, his expression cold. She stood there, numb, how the hell had this happened?

**…**

The Doctor ground slightly, putting a hand to his throbbing head. He felt that he was laying on his back, breathing heavily, as he tried to piece together what had happened in his mind. He remembered Craig jumping up and down, they were on a different planet, men with guns came, they arrested them, they took his humans away from him, he was scanned, thick smoke choking him. He sat up in a flash, wincing as he went light headed.

'Glad to see you are finally awake' a female voice commented drily. He turned his head towards the source and saw a short woman, with platinum blonde hair and startlingly blue eyes. She was wearing a black blouse with a red jacket, shirt, and flat shoes.

'Urrr' he muttered, not sure what to say. He clumsily clambered to his feet. He was now in a plain white room, it was nearly blinding. There were no windows, and clearly the door was painted white like every wall and surface, there seemed to be no way out.

'My name is Senator Lazless Flowers, and you are currently in the SCAT-House' she stated, but she was making little sense to the disoriented Doctor, but he was aware enough to know he had to find out exactly where he was, and much more importantly, where Rose and Craig were. He'd stop at nothing to get them back, even if he had to tear the skies apart.

'What the SCAT-House' he demanded, sounding somewhat irritated. She frowned disapprovingly at him, but opened her mouth to answer none-the-less.

'The Species-led Creative and Advanced Technologies House. We are on the prison planet Justice Alpha of the Justica system. You should have seen the auto-beacons and the deflection barrier warning you to stay away, but now that you're here, you have no choice but to stay and work off your sentence once it is decided' she said firmly. He frowned, he couldn't believe this. Rose and Craig were going to kill him when they got hold of him, and if they didn't, Jackie might. He let out an involuntary shudder at the thought of the slap he would get.

…

Craig scowled as he was roughly pushed into a cell. It had stone grey floor, walls and ceiling, and was tiny. Two large double bunked beds lined the walls, allow four people inside, and a small window, heavily barred, let a small amount of sunlight into the room. The man from the ship grinned happily as he locked him in, all on his own.

He sighed as he sat on a bed, willing himself not to cry, and to think of a way out of this. He had been searched and his mobile had been confiscated, he was refused any information about where the Doctor and Rose were, but he had been told that he was on the planet Justica Delta, not that that was any help to him. He was only waiting a short while until his smug guard reappeared. He groaned at the sight of him.

'Oh come on, cheer up' he pretended to pout with a malicious grin. He really seemed to hate him, but then again, he was a prison guard, maybe they were all this smug.

'I've come to tell you your duty, as of tomorrow you'll be based in the office, my personal office, you will be cleaning it and working paperwork under my supervision, I want to keep an eye on you, Craig Tyler' his eyes glinted as he said his name.

…

Rose wasn't having a much better time than her brother. She had been shown to a cell too, and had then gone out to the main room to have a proper look around, looking out for possible methods of escape or at least communication with the Doctor or Craig. But apparently her hair colour was offensive to a rather big, ugly faced woman. She had started shouting at Rose for no reason, other than to call her every name under the sun, some of which she had never even heard of! She had started arguing back and had been quite offensive too, when the woman launched herself at Rose, who in her surprise was sent flying across the floor before she could fight back. Soon other prisoners joined in, she shielded her head, until she suddenly heard a male voice, telling the woman to back off. She was soon dragged to her feet by a young guy in a black warden suit. His gingery hair flapped around his face, his bright green eyes staring at her.

'I take it you're the new inmate, Rose Tyler' he coldly demanded. Rose merely nodded, to shocked to say anything.

'I am Block-Walker Dennel, not the best start is it?' he harshly commented. He was leading her back towards her cell she noticed.

'Wait in there, I want a word with the Governor about you' he told her, before closing the cell door with a loud clang. A tear trailed down her cheek as she numbly sat on one of the beds, wondering how her day had come to this, and praying she would see her best friend and brother again soon, or at all.

…

'You know, it is curious Doctor, but your ship cannot be moved nor entered' Flower spoke in a suspicious voice. He merely shrugged, like he'd just let anybody get their hands on _his_ Tardis, yeah right!

'I put the handbrake on so we wouldn't go anywhere else in a hurry' he made up. In reality, it was part of the Tardis's defenses; she wouldn't let anybody she didn't recognize open her door. If he lowered her shields people could transmat inside, but he never did that anyway.

'Such information could be useful to us' she stated, like she was trying to bargain with him. She had mentioned that good behavior and helping them could get time off his sentence, but there was no way he'd sacrifice the Tardis, it could do too much damage.

'Nobody but the people I chose can get inside it, entering without is impossible, anyway, why do you want to know' he demanded.

'Such resistance could prove useful in assuring nobody escapes here' she shrugged.

'And how is the escape rate now?' he asked, already thinking of ways about doing this. He was hardly expecting a useful answer, but when people had you trapped, they always tell you things you shouldn't. One could only hope.

'Why not find out?' she challenged, nodding with her head towards the patch of wall behind her. He looked carefully at it. It was slightly raised out more than the rest of the wall, by only a fraction, but it was enough to tell him that was where the doorway was. He moved forwards and pressed his hand against it. The sound of an alarm blared whilst the lighting in the room flashed red.

'What's happening?' he demanded fearfully. He did not like the look of this. Flowers didn't answer, but he got the information he wanted soon enough. Dozens of thick grey blobs were falling from the ceiling towards him. they were like bubbles, but the instant they touched him, they were sticking, like chunks of glue. They soon had his body in case, there was no way he could possible move other than his eyes and mouth.

'Very clever' he drily commented.

'I thought so, they also respond to anti-social also, so I'd behave if I were you' she told him smugly.

…

'Make yourself comfortable, work begins in the morning, and you can be of so much help' Flowers smirked as the Doctor was pushed by two burly guards into a cell. He glanced around. It was anything special; however his two cell mates were a different matter. They were large and bright green. He knew who they were instantly, they were both Slitheen.

'Meet your temporary roommates, Dram Fel Fotch Heppen-Bar Slitheen and his brother, Ecktosca Fel Fotch Heppen-Bar Slitheen' she said as the door closed with a clang, the lock clicked shut. One of the Slitheen brothers clearly noticed his glare as he opened his mouth.

'Oh, he's clearly met another member of the family' the one on the right, Dram, commented.

'Rest assure mate, the Heppen-Bar branch of the Slitheen family got out of the Family Business generations ago' the other one, Ecktosca told him as he offer his claw to the Doctor. He hesitantly took it.

'If that was true though, why are you both in here?' he asked suspiciously. They had to be lying, but then again, he shouldn't judge based on a family member or species. Look at Rose and Craig, and their mother was completely bonkers! Dram hung his head sadly.

'We were tricked, we were only searching for what was ours' he said mournfully.

'Our ancestor's personal effects, their compression fields, we were told they were being held for auction by so low lives on Justica Delta. But it was a lie, so when we broke in to get them, we were arrested on the spot' Ecktosca stated in anger. The Doctor merely frowned, just how the hell had this day gone so crazy? And more importantly, where were Rose and Craig?

…

It was the following and Craig had not slept well. He had tossed and turned, and to make things even better, that guard kept coming to wake him up whenever he liked, that horridly smug grin plastered over his face every time!

After a quick but thankfully private shower, he was taken to begin working through a mountain of paperwork, which literally towered of the desk. He was finally beginning to show progress, when his jerk of a guard had opened a window and it had blown everywhere. So he had been sent back to his cell to be punished later.

That had been two hours ago and he was currently sitting on his bed when his cell door opened. He rolled his eyes when he saw his guard was back. He on the other hand looked like Christmas had come early.

'Guess what Craig, I get to decide what your punishment can be' he beamed.

'Oh, fantastic' Craig held up his hands in mock delight, glaring daggers at the man. He just grinned wider, clearly enjoying himself as he closed the cell door and locked it, slowly approaching him. Craig stood up defensively and moved back.

'Stay still and it won't be as bad as it could be' he grinned evilly as he forced him up against a wall. Craig closed his eyes, expecting a blow to come, and was therefore nearly sick when something much worse came. A kiss. The man had clamped his mouth onto his own, forcing his tongue down his throat. Craig struggled, trying to push him away, but he couldn't, the man was too strong. After what felt like an age, the man withdrew for air. Craig breathed a sigh of relief, but too soon, as a moment later; the man brought his fist around, surprising the blonde and knocking him to the floor. A second later a kick was sent his way, winding him. his guard gripped his hair and forced his head upwards until he was looking him in the eye.

'You see Craig, I own you now, and if you don't listen to me, I'll go as far as I like. But it shouldn't be too bad, considering you have such a handsome shape' he whispered in his ear, his hot breath making the hairs on the back of Craig's neck stand up. His hand glided down to the waist band of his jeans. Craig gasped in terror, but to his relieve, the hands soon withdrew.

'See you later, my prize' the guard grinned, and with one last punch in his eye, Craig was left alone in his cell lying on the floor, panting heavily, his eyes swimming with tears. Where were the Doctor and Rose when he needed them more than ever?

…

Rose was having a slightly better morning than Craig. Well maybe not better, but certainly less intense. She too had had a private shower and breakfast, before being ordered to work in the kitchen. She was washing up pots and pans, making them as clean as possible, when a loud crash nearly made the entire kitchen shake. The prisoner from the day before, the one who had thought was a gold digging blonde bimbo, her words, had sent all the washing up she had done crashing to the floor, a wide grin on her face. Guards had come marching into the room, and before Rose could even open her mouth, she had been assigned the blame.

She was been carted into the governor's office before she could even make her case. She was ordered to enter, but her eye's narrowed as a flickering blue light seemed to shine around the door. She cautiously stepped inside. Her nose instantly wrinkled in disgust, the air was foul, but it was also familiar, like…like…Bad Breath! Her mouth dropped open as realization hit her. He was a Slitheen!

'Something wrong my dear' the governor asked. He was a rather large man in an expensive looking suit, and had short curly black hair and dark eyes.

'Sorry sir, it was just the light, it startled me' she covered up with. She peered at his forehead, but there was no zip like there had been with Margret.

'Now Miss Tyler, I have the paperwork concerning you're sentence, based on your actions since you've come here. Being abusive with the inmates and destructive when asked to work is not accepted here, so I've decide what your sentencing shall be' he smiled at her. It was sickening how calm and creepy it was.

'And what's that?' she asked, trying hard to keep any fear out of her voice.

'Oh, just a minimum of twenty five years in prison' he told her almost casually. Her world span around her, her throat dry, but she held herself firm. Twenty five years?! But she hadn't even done anything! Where the hell were The Doctor and Craig, she need them more than ever before right now!

**...**

**And there's part one, hope it was worth the wait! Firstly, oh my god, poor Craig! But in all fairness, I had to take Craig somwehere different in the story of the Justica System, and I have to make up a complete story line for him that fits with the actual one, so this is more challenging than 'The Clockwise Man' but it's fun ; ) As always, Read and Review, and I'll try to be a little quicker next time, no promises though, my writer's block won't get lost already!**


	38. The Monsters Inside, Gravitational Pull

**Howdy! Soooooo Sorry about the long wait, but I've been trying to get my other story up and running, and I just couldn't seem to shake the writer's block I've had with this one, but I've struggled through and here's part two ; ) Hope you enjoy, and please note that no matter how much I'd like too, I don't own Doctor Who, but Craig Tyler is all mine : )**

**...**

**The Monsters Inside, Gravitational Pull**

'AHHHH!' the Doctor cried out in surprize. It was the next morning and he'd hardly slept, he was kind of too nervous to sleep in the same room as two Slitheen. He had no reason to suspect they were not telling the truth, but after the last time…

He had just managed to drift off, when the grey globs had descended again and grabbed him. it was when they literally floated him through the air into a different room that he had yelped in shock. When they dropped him, he was in some kind of testing laboratory, various aliens, all presumable prisoners, were busy working. He quickly noted what they were doing, some kind of gravity experiment project. He was helped to his feet be a humanoid creature, a man, with olive green skin. He was wearing a deep purple and gold waist-coat and trousers; he looked like a genie to be honest.

'Here you go, not so nice to see another face' he brightly commented. The globs fell from the Doctor, and the man offered his hand for him to shake. The Doctor took it, slightly hesitantly.

'I'm Nesshalop, I'm a Sucrosian' he greeted.

'I'm the Doctor' he said quietly.

'Nice to meet you, well we better get to work' Nesshalop smiled, leading the Doctor over to his workstation.

'What exactly is it your trying to achieve' the Doctor asked.

'Improving the gravitational capabilities of those globs and the beacons around the planetary system' the green man explained.

'But if you shatter fried the plasmic shell, and re-harmonize the stabilizers into a pattern of 3.452789 megabytes per minutes' the Doctor started and Nesshalop grinned.

'Followed by a reversal of the flow off the neutrons, then the range of the beacons would be far easier to control' he finished. The two of them quickly set to work, pushing other aliens out of their way in their excitement, but moments after they had begun, the controls and machines all began to spark, and with a resounding boom, the exploded. Their faces fell.

'AHHH!' the Doctor yelled as the globs covered him entirely, he couldn't breathe, they had enveloped him completely. He screamed in agony as electricity coursed through him, but after about twenty seconds the pain stopped, and the globs released him. next to him, Nesshalop was panting heavily on the floor. He had clearly experienced the same pain he had.

'I warned you bad behavior would not be tolerated, and if you try anything else it will only get worse, understood' Flowers hissed as the others tried to assess the damage to the system.

'Ma'am, the Translation Circuit is thoroughly destroyed whilst everything else seems easily repairable'

'Well maybe I can help, I am an expert in translation' the Doctor spoke up. Flowers sighed, she clearly wished there was a different way to go about this, but it seemed there was none.

…

Rose's day was going pretty much in the same fashion as the first. She had been showered and breakfasted and set to work and had managed to avoid getting into trouble until lunch, when the creep of a governor was in their block. She kept him in her sights at all time, she was sure he was a Slitheen in disguise, probably trying to get pay back for the part she had played in their last encounter with that family.

But she had a plan, that bitch from yesterday was sitting with her back to her at the table in front of her. She paused a looked around, and then without a second's hesitation, brought up her hand, filled with the disgusting substance they were supposed to eat, and threw it.

With a very loud squelch and a forceful head jerk, she met her mark and fixed a mocking grin on her face. The woman turned around, fury lining her features, searching for whoever had dared do that to her. Her eyes widened as they landed on Rose, then narrowed as she threw her own lunch back towards her. Rose ducked and it hit a guard.

There was a moment of silence, before the entire hall erupted. Food was splattering the tables, walls, and floors, and in the commotion of the guards trying to restore order, Rose leapt out of her seat. She dived towards the panicking governor and before he knew what was happening, she had him pinned beneath her, keeping him in place with her knees as her hands frantically ran across his forehead. No zipper? She thought as he yelled his protests.

She didn't even get chance to reply, because the next moment she was struggling against two guards.

'You just don't know when to stop do you!' Dennel yelled at her. She tried to fight back, but they had soon forced her into a room she was not familiar with.

'This is solitary Confinement, you will remain here until told otherwise, you shall be punished for your actions today, you may not express any opinion you may have on the matter' he stated coldly before slamming the door shut and locking it.

She sighed as she slumped against it, letting herself slowly fall to the floor. Where the hell were Craig and the Doctor? She hoped that they'd get her soon, and that they weren't being held just like she was. But she was pretty sure they were.

…

Craig groaned loudly to himself as he was ordered back into his cell, the door slammed shut behind him and the door locked.

He had being putting up with his stupid, fat, ugly, old, crappy guard all day, sat in his office and tried to work through mountains of the mans' paperwork, only to have him fluttering around and mocking him about that vile kiss at every chance.

He had sat at the edge of the desk Craig was ordered to work at, wearing overly tight trousers and a shirt that was unbuttoned halfway down. He had kept 'accidently' brushing his hand against Craig's, clearly trying to get a reaction out of him, but it hadn't worked, that was until he was almost finished.

He was just stacking the paperwork up accordingly when he had felt the man grab his arse, and before he had even thought about it, he had whirled around on the spot and slapped him around the face. His cheek was reddened and his hand had flown to it, but his eyes glinted and he had grinned, he had got what he wanted, and Craig was beginning to regret it heavily.

The cell doors clanged open and there he was, grinning madly.

'Hey Craig, guess what, for your little bad behaviour I get to punish you again' he smiled with lust in his eyes. Craig stiffened, not this time!

'You touch me again and I will kill you' he tried to sound tough but it sounded scared even to himself. He was no pushover when it came to a fight, far from it, but this type of fighting, when the man wanted that from him, it gave him the creeps and knocked his fighting ability out of balance. The man pouted slightly.

'Oh, come on Craig, I think you'd enjoy it if you tried' he grinned, and before Craig could react, the man had him up against the wall and was slamming his tongue into the helpless blonde's man. But he wasn't so helpless this time, and he bit down on the tongue as hard as he could.

'Arr, you little…' the guard brought his hand around and hit him across the head, knocking him to his knees. He then proceeded to kick and punch every inch of the blonde he could reach whilst Craig curled up protectively. The guard seized his hoodie and wretched it upwards, his hand splayed across his victim's bare chest, stroking and squeezing it as it shivered beneath him. His other hand was working on the belt of his jeans, trying to unfasten it. Oh god, he was really going to do it this time.

'No, no!' Craig screamed, bringing his knee up and winding his guard. The guard hunched over, but within seconds, he had thrown Craig onto his bed and had leapt onto him, pinning him down. His eyes flashed dangerously as he looked into Craig's fearful ones.

'You'll pay for this Craig Tyler, don't forget, I can have you at any second I want, any…second' he whispered as he brought his tongue over Craig's neck, relishing in the fact that Craig was whimpering slightly. He then brought down his mouth and bite the neck hard, Craig yelped in pain as he felt it course through his neck.

'Just marking you as mine, and soon you will be' he whispered as he climbed off the terrified blonde and briskly marched out of the cell, locking it behind him. Craig muttered curses to himself as tears poured down his face, that had been so much worse than the day before, and he just dreaded the next time he would see him. His hand lightly went to his neck, feeling blood trickling there. That was supposed to a love bite, but there was no love there, just pure desire and force. He shivered at the thought.

…

The Doctor sighed; he had been taken back to his cell for the time being. He had explained to Flowers about what his little breakthrough would mean for her, but he had also insisted that in order to achieve it, he would need to talk to his Astrophysicist friends, namely Rose and Craig. He was so worried about them, he needed to know they were safe, and even more importantly, where they were so he could find a way out of this place, get to the Tardis and rescue them before hightailing it out of this system.

Flowers had told him she was going to see her boss in regards to it, Consul Issabel, and that her decision would be known to him shortly. He was just about to think about ways he could escape the cell when he remembered about those he shared it with, those Slitheen brothers. He was bored and pretty much stuck, why not find out a little more about the Slitheen. He got up and went over to their bed, but they were more like nests, large rings of pillows and covered with indentions in the middle, clearly where they both sat and presumably slept. His eyes flickered to a collar like device and as he picked it up he realised what it was. It was a compression field, but not like the slick ones the Slitheen on Earth had worn, this one was battered and seemed to have been made by hand as opposed to machine. He frowned; Compression Fields were band in prisoners purely because one could shrink themselves down enough to fit through barred doors and windows, so why would one of his roommates have one. His eyes widened as realisation hit.

'Crap, they must be trying to escape' he whispered to himself. Now he didn't really care about their escape plans, but as their roommate he could easily see himself getting in trouble for not stopping them, which could just as easily lead to his own plans for escape becoming much harder to pull off.

'Indeed, myself and my brother are planning our escape, don't get in our way or you'll sincerely regret it' a voice spat from behind him, and turning around, the Doctor's eyes widened as he saw Ecktosca standing behind him in the doorway, glaring coldly at him.

…

Rose startled as her confined cell doors burst open, and in came a short thin with short black hair and bright green eyes. She stood up and merely watched him; he was one of the Warders that had brought her in, but she was not really sure what to say.

'I am Warder Norris' he stated.

'And?' she said rather bluntly, but she still had no clue what she was meant to say and do. He chuckled at her.

'Fear not, I am here as an uncover agent for the Shadow Proclamation' he whispered. She just stared at him. Arrested, held prisoner, attacked, sentence to twenty five years by a governor whom was suspected of being a hostile alien, and now an uncover agent, why not believe that too?

'And what are you doing talking to me?' she asked.

'I am here because people have been disappearing from these prisons, and I've heard nothing from any of my sources or superiors in months, weeks and no communication, something must be wrong' he said quietly. Rose's head was spinning, her being her, these disappearance, was there a connection?

She was about to ask him as much when the door burst open and both of them violently jumped. It was the dark skinned guard from before; she tried to remember his name, Warder… Blanc, yeah that was it. Norris didn't even get a chance to move are turn to face him, for a moment later Blanc had ahold of his neck, and with a large sickening crack, Norris fell to the ground, his neck broken, his eyes void of feeling, he was clearly dead. Rose paled, a murder had happened so quickly in front of her it turned her stomach.

'Why did you do that?' she demanded fearfully.

'Because he knew too much, and now so do you' he grinned as he reached up to his forehead. She closed her eyes, she knew what came next, and sure enough, when she opened her eyes, a Slitheen was standing proud and tall before her, his claws raised threateningly. But she remembered they were slow running, and with that in mind, she easily dodged him and bolted through the open door.

'Miss Tyler, come and play with me' he hissed as he chased her. She noted that the hall was completely empty now; presumable everyone was in their cells because of the food fight.

She ran and ran, until she came to the end of the corridor leading off from the hall, only to find long bars in her way. He had tricked her, led her into a dead end so he could easily take her out she realized with dread. He snarled and laughed mirthlessly as he slowly came around the corner, his suit held under one arm. He raised a claw ready to deliver the deadly blow, when a loud voice could be heard; sounding like it was getting closer.

'Looks like I'll have to finish you off later, and I wouldn't try telling anyone if I were you, not unless you want the lovely Craig Tyler to pay the price' as he began pulling his suit back on. It was even worse watching that then them taking them of Rose thought as his last words hit her.

'What's that supposed to mean?' she demanded angrily.

'Oh, my brother has been keeping himself rather entertained in his attempts to break your brother's spirits' he chuckled at her coldly.

'What have you done to him?' she hissed. If they had hurt her Big Bro she ripped them apart with her bare hands, Slitheen or no Slitheen.

'Oh nothing too bad yet, just enjoying a little kiss' he laughed outright at this.

'What?' she whispered. There was no way Craig would kiss a Slitheen, unless he didn't know, but the tone he had used made her think there was more to it than that.

'Against his will of course' he cackled.

'He forced himself onto Craig?' she asked quietly, fury dripping from her tone. He just laughed again as she face grew angrier and angrier, how dare they do that, she'd get them for this!

Suddenly two guards appeared around the corner. They both sighed in relieve at the sight of them.

'Miss Tyler, you shouldn't be out of your cell, but since you are with a Warder I'll let it pass, but right now you must come with me, the governor wants to see you' one of them stated.

'Oh fantastic' she muttered sarcastically as she moved past a widely grinning Blanc and followed after the guards. She wouldn't tell anybody, yet. She needed to be sure Craig would be safe before she did so, she couldn't put him in danger, not for anything.

…

Craig was furious with himself and thinking carefully. He was furious because he had let that guard get the better of him ever since he had come here, and he was thinking about exactly how he had managed to be so easily overpowered. That guard was taller and bigger than him, but even though he was slimly built he wasn't exactly a pushover, so it bothered him, something just wasn't right. He sighed as his cell door opened, but this time it wasn't that creep in the doorway, but another guard.

'I am Warder Arcid, your presence is requested by this prison's governor and he won't exactly take no as an answer' a young man with spiky blonde hair and brown eyes. Craig frowned, what had he done to get in trouble now.

'Come on, best not keep him waiting' Arcid actually smiled at him as he led him across the prison hall to the Governor's office. The governor, a rather large man with curly red hair and a matching moustache, was sitting in a large comfortable chair behind a grand wooden desk.

'Mr. Tyler, you're skills are required by another of the prisons of our system' he greeted in a warm voice. Sure, be all mean to start with but if they need something it's as nice as you like, Craig bitterly thought.

'My skills, sir' he hastily added.

'Yes, you're studies of gravitation patterns are required to get an experiment working' he elaborated. Craig quickly hid his surprise; the Doctor must be behind this somehow.

'A video link is being set up so you can talk with your associates' the governor stated.

If you'd sit here' Arcid requested, pointing to a chair in front of a sort of screen, and nodding politely at the governor, Craig allowed himself to be led into to said chair. He waited patiently but excitedly, he was going to see the Doctor and Rose soon, their chance of finally getting out of this mess was finally here.

…

'Doctor, Doctor wake up' a voice was saying over him, and squinting through the darkness, the Doctor made out the shape of Flowers looming over him.

'Come on, the boss has approved your little meeting by video link, it's been set up, all you have to do it talk to them, and get this thing running' she stated in a business like voice.

'So this system, the Justica system, just how many planets are there in it' he asked curiously. If he was going to get Rose and Craig back, any little piece of information that could be of any help with definitely worth knowing.

'There are six planets in the Justica System. Justica Alpha, Justica Beta, Justica Gamma, Justica Delta, Justica Epsilon and Justica Prime. They are perfectly spaced you know, they form perfect circles of orbit around each other. This makes them perfect for amplifying gravity waves allowing us to open a warp-hole' she explained briskly as they arrived in the darkened room, the Doctor being seated before a large screen with a camera on top.

'But why do you want to open a warp-hole' he asked curiously.

'Sorry, that information is need to know only' she shook her head. The Doctor had the slightest feeling she hadn't meant to talk about warp-holes, and that made him all the more curious about how all this fitted together.

…

Rose had been taken to the governor's office, and after a long and stern lecture about her earlier actions, he had told her that she had been requested to make a video link appearance and help with one of the prisons on another planet in the same system. She had no idea how she could do that, but she was almost sure that either the Doctor or Craig were behind this.

She was placed before a computer screen, and after a few moments of silence and a static covered screen, it split into two webcams, one of the Doctor, one of Craig, she sighed in relief at the sight of them, but he did note that Craig looked a little worse of wear. Those stupid Slitheen, just what had they done to him?

'Rose, Craig, thank god!' the Doctor cried, laughing a little in delight.

'Doctor!' she breathed, happy she could finally talk to them again. Craig was grinning broadly yet saying nothing.

'Right, first things first, you both need to pass a test with no help, just to prove you're legit…' the Doctor trailed off.

'What is the calculation required for anti-gravity flight' a woman said off screen

'Because if we can get the project working, we'll all get a royalty that could bring in a lot of cash, and I mean phone numbers' the Doctor carried on over her. Craig frowned slightly; the Doctor never carried money, unless… he was trying to tell them something else without their guards hearing.

'Shut up' the female voice snapped at him.

'Mum's the word' the Doctor wiggled his eyebrows on screen before he fell silent.

Rose was thinking fast, 'Mum's the word', 'I mean phone numbers' those phrases, could he mean…

'01484, 205498' Rose told him. It was Jackie's phone number; it was the only thing that made sense to her. There were a series of beeping noises from the Doctor's end, until the woman finally spoke up again.

'It is close, especially considering the fact that it was a mental calculation' she stated, sounding somewhat impressed.

'Now, onto business, you say's you both have knowledge about Warp Overlay, tell me, what do you know about it' she wanted to know.

'Oh, they were just telling me the other day that they'd come up with an easy way of remembering, just using their favourite soap character's house number from East Enders' the Doctor grinned. Craig smiled at the memory; Rose had dragged both him and the Doctor to the Tardis' TV room, a fantastic room filled with shelves with every film imaginable. There was a massive Television which made the characters look like size and even did 3D with those silly cinema glasses. She had wanted to catch up on all the soap lines she had missed in the year they had missed out on.

'45' Rose and Craig said together.

'Correct'' Flowers said sounding impressed. At that moment another woman came onto the screen, a tall woman with black frizzy hair tied back and dark skin. She was wearing a grey suit and was clearly very important. But when she spoke it was clear she wasn't the woman behind the camera.

'Ah Issabel' the governor said.

'Scrot' she nodded.

'If I might recommend, I think that both Mr. and Miss Tyler should be brought here immediately, they were clearly very useful in gravitation pulls and warps, and they are exactly what is needed' she stated.

'I agree; I'll make the arrangements now' he nodded.

'Oh and Craig, Don't let those monsters on the inside get the better of you' Rose said softly as she calmly brushing two fingers over a hair across her forehead. She saw Craig frown in thought whilst the Doctor looked confused. She wasn't sure if Craig had gotten that hint, but she hoped he had.

Suddenly at the Doctor's end the lighting turned to flashing red, an alarm blaring in the background. They all looked on in alarm.

'Sir, the Slitheen brothers' a guard cried as he burst into the room at the Doctor's end.

'What about them' Issabel demanded.

'They've gone, they've escaped' he cried. The Doctor, Rose, and Craig all looked uneasy; this could not mean anything good was coming.

**... **

**And there we go, hope you liked! Anyway, poor Craig is being forced on by a Slitheen, Yuck! But it just came to me in the story since all three of them needed to be threatened by a Slitheen in some way, guess Craig was just unlucky but that guard will get what's coming to him ; ) So, for anyone interested I've started another story, which means of course that this one will sometimes take longer to update, but never fear I'll always come back to it, I love it too much not too : ) Hope it was worth waiting for and please let me know your thoughts in a review!**


	39. The Monsters Inside, Monsters In Us All

**Hey readers, SOOOOOOOOOOOO Sorry about the delay! It's just that with work and writer's block and not being very well I've kind of been stuck with this one more then my other chapters, but hopefully once The Monsters Inside is done my writer's block will go with it, fingers crossed : ) But in my defense, I've been thinking up ideas for future adventures of my own, plus of how certain things will play out, only problem is most of them are from season two onwards, but I haven't totally dropped the ball ; ) Hope it was worth waiting for, and as always I don't own Doctor Who or The Monsters Inside, but I do own Craig Tyler. Enjoy!**

**...**

**The Monsters Inside, Monsters in Us All**

Rose was sitting nervously in a seat. She had been transported to the ship she had been brought in and a wide smile was on her face. She was finally on her way back to the Doctor and Craig. But as she thought of her brother her thoughts turned grim and angry. How dare they do that to him, force themselves onto her brother, they better not have gone further than a kiss, or they'd live to regret it.

She was sitting looking out the window, when a strange smell caught her attention. Her head whipped around, and from out the bottom of the cabin door thick grey smoke was pumping out. She leapt to her feet and began pounding on the door, an alarm beginning to sound at the same time. After a few moments it opened, revealing a rather surprized pilot dressed in black and navy blue. He opened his mouth to protest about the noise, but she swiftly cut him off.

'Look' she cried, pointing at the smoke. His eyes widened for a brief moment, before a hand grabbed him and pushed him into the foggy hold. He choked as he tried to move away, but a figure, draped in a black cloak to hid his face quickly slipped through the door and sealed it. Rose curiously watched the man as he pulled his hood back, and she gasped as she saw he was Dennel. He smiled ever so slightly at her.

'What, but why?' she stuttered in confusion. She really wasn't getting this; he had seemed so hard and cold before.

'You might be a bit sparky around the edges Miss Tyler, but I don't think you did anything to deserve being threatened or having to see a man killed right in front of you' he smiled slightly.

'You knew about that?' she asked in confusion.

'I saw it, when I heard you were being transported I thought you might be in need of help at some point, so I volunteered to come along' he shrugged and Rose smiled. He might be hard on the outside, but he was definitely a sweet-heart on the inside.

'Thanks mate' she grinned up at him, receiving on in return.

'Anyway, I thought this guy looked a bit dodgy, so I've knocked him out with the gas, just for a few hours, but he'll need to use him to pilot the ship' Dennel explained as he put his arms under the unconscious pilots, heaving him back into the cabin. Rose cautiously followed him in. together the heaved the pilot into a large steel silver chair and held his hand over a sort of green and blue scanner. Dennel pressed the man's hand onto it.

'Touchpad activated, Pilot must input key in key code within the next ten seconds to stabilize the co-ordination flight path. Ten, Nine, Eight…' the computer began counting down, a beep with each number.

'Oh god' Dennel muttered as he and Rose both tried to move him to the keyboard.

'I really hope you know that code' Rose breathed. She had no idea what would happen without it, but from experience, a countdown was never a good thing. The man slumped forwards slightly as they tilted him, and Rose gasped as a zipper dislodged and hung down from the man's forehead.

'Oh… Fantastic' she sighed in annoyance.

…

Craig kept looking around the ship he was on nervously. On the one hand he was thrilled to finally be reunited with the Doctor and Rose again, but on the other, he wished that he was being accompanied by anybody but the one he was. His guard had insisted on coming with him, and being a prisoner, Craig could hardly refuse. Now he was sitting opposite him, a smug sickly grin plastered over his face. Craig quickly looked out the window as the guard caught his eye. He chuckled, got up and sat in the chair next to the anxious blonde.

'You wanna know something?' he sighed. Craig turned to face him, fixing him with a cold glare, but fear was also in his eyes. the guard grinned wider as he saw it, he clearly looked seeing people like that.

'I never told you my name, it's Tim' he smiled. Craig just looked at him blankly, not really sure how he was meant to react.

'So, Craig Tyler, what are you planning, cause I know you're up to something, are you trying to get anyway from your owner' Tim grinned slyly at him.

'I don't belong to you' Craig whispered weakly. Time laughed, and a second later he was sitting on Craig's lap, forcing the blonde further into the chair, his arms pinned down. Craig squirmed but to no avail.

'That's where you're wrong you know' he whispered in his ear before kissing his cheek. Craig shuddered in revolution.

'I think it's time I taught you to what extent I own you' he whispered in the same creepy tone. Craig's breathing hitched in fear. In one fluid motion, Tim had ripped his own shirt off, somehow without breaking a single button off, and was forcing his tongue into Craig's protesting mouth. He used one arm to restrain him, the other was pulling at Craig's hoodie. As soon as that was off, the T-shirt was next, followed by his belt.

'You see Craig, you're like one of the little pigs, all cute and innocent and scared and weak, and I'm the big, strong BAD WOLF coming to get you and claim you as my own' he leered down at him, delighting as Craig's eyes widened further, even if he didn't understand why. BAD WOLF, was this it, was it because he was about to be raped and abused and god knew what else. No, that couldn't be it, how could a rape be causing those words to appear wherever he went. No, BAD WOLF was something else, something bigger, something terrifying and important and so, so powerfully, and it was going to get him one day, but not today. Tim took advantage of his distraction, and ran his hands all over his bare torso, slipping further downwards.

Craig whimpered as he felt the hand unbuttoning his jeans as the owner's own trousers were becoming looser. He felt his starting to come down slightly. No! He could let that happen, if it did he'd never manage to get it out of his head, he'd never be the same person ever again! He had to stop it. But he had no idea what to do.

'Fight him' a little voice said in his head, sounding strangely like the Doctor.

He knew it wasn't him, but he trusted the Doctor more than anyone, and if he told him to fight then he would, consequences be damned!

He forced his leg up from under his attack and kneed Tim in the crotch. Tim groaned in pain and surprize; and was too late to react as Craig delivered a punch to his face which connected with his nose. With an audible crack and a spurt of blood, it clearly broke. Tim let out a war cry like noise, but Craig was slimmer and shorter than him, allowing him to move faster. With a massive effort he swung his leg around and kicked Tim as hard as he could in the chest. Tim fell to the floor but Craig didn't stop. He wanted too, he really did, he honestly didn't want to hurt him, but to knock him out was the only way to be sure this man wouldn't hurt him until he got to the Doctor. He kicked and punched until he couldn't summon up any more strength, but thankfully it was enough, Tim was breathing heavily but not moving, he was unconscious. Craig let out a sigh of relieve as he pulled his T-shirt and Hoodie back on, just as the plane landed, but he was nearly sick as he glanced at Tim's forehead. There was a zipper hanging loose. He leapt to his feet as the cabin door opened. A man dressed in black and navy uniform stepped out, took one look at the scene before him and yelped in shock.

'What the hell is going on here?' he cried in shock. Craig gulped in fear. This was bad, very bad, and he had a nagging feeling things were going to get even worse.

…

'Come on, help me' Dennel shouted as he frantically pulled levers and pushed buttons. The shuttle had alarms blaring madly and lights were flashing as he and Rose tried to pilot the ship. They had the Slitheen sat in the chair Rose had been in the other room.

'It's no good, we need to use him' she cried as she ran from the room and began to pull the zipper loose, Dennel standing over her. She cringed in disgust as she forced the skin down over the large head, surprized to see bright orange skin rather than the olive green she was expecting, pulling it off the Slitheen-lookalike within. She was nearly sick as she felt the rubbery skin suit in her hand.

'Right, we need to use this hand to abort the countdown, then we can regain control of the ship' he stated as he put his own arm down the skin to the hand, forcing his own inside. Rose was nearly sick as he experimentally waggled the fingers over his own.

'Sorry, bit hard not too' he shrugged at the revolted look she gave him. She was about to reply and tell him exactly how gross that was, but was cut off by a snarling noise. The Slitheen-lookalike's eyes shot open. It leapt to its feet and roared. They both jumped back in fear.

'Come on!' Dennel yelled, grabbing her around the waist and pushing Rose into the cabin. He slammed the door shut and locked it. The sounds of the Slitheen-lookalike hammering on the other side could be clearly heard over the alarms. The shuttle began shuddering and spinning, getting further and further out of control. It flipped over and the two were flung backwards.

'No!' Rose cried as she saw Dennel hit the controls, causing the shuttle to spin and burn even more. She looked at the computer monitor, and gasped as she saw a white dot heading for a large blue sphere on a crash course. She knew exactly what that meant, they were going to crash into a planet. The beating continued, this wasn't looking good at all.

'The BIG BAD WOLF's ready to blow our house down' Dennel breathed. Rose blinked, not only was that an odd comment to make right now, but she was sure she'd heard something about a Bad Wolf already. Gwyneth had warned Craig about a wolf, and Freddie had told her that picture she had like was called Bad Wolf. She pushed the thought from her mind though; this really wasn't a good time to let her mind wander after all. Especially as the door finally burst open, and the Slitheen-lookalike stood with his claws raised, ready to strike. He went to move towards Dennel.

'NO! Don't attack him' she cried. After all the help he had given her, she didn't want to see him get hurt. The Slitheen-lookalike merely laughed at her.

'I have been given my orders not to harm either of you, so I will not' he hissed.

'Listen, can you get the shuttle to the planet safely' she pressed on urgently. She didn't trust him, but for now, she needed him onside so had would have to give him the benefit of the doubt. The Slitheen-lookalike moved over to the controls and began pressing buttons, turning dials, pulling levers up and down as fast as it could. But it was no good, and as the three of them screamed, the shuttle plummeted, before hurtling nose first into the planet below, where it crashed with a huge explosive boom.

…

'What the hell have you done?' the pilot demanded. He was an elderly man with grey hair and a handlebar moustache and bright blue eyes. Craig held his arms up in surrender, trying to look reassuring.

'I swear, he was attacking me, he's not even human, look, please look at his forehead, just look!' he cried frantically. The pilot's eyes darted to said forehead before he recoiled slightly in horror at the sight of the zipper.

'How is that possible' the pilot wondered as he leant over the unconscious man.

'No, don't touch him!' Craig cried out but it was not use. The pilot pulled at the zipper, startled to see bright green skin underneath. He jumped back as Tim's eyes shot open, before choking as he suddenly had hold of his neck in a choking grip.

'So you both know now, big mistake Craig' he hissed in a voice that wasn't human. The Pilot cried out as he neck snapped loudly, before Tim threw him to the ground, not even sparing the dead man a glance. Instead he turned to Craig.

'You've just made your worst mistake Craig, and now you'll pay' he grinned as he pulled of his suit, revealing the monster inside. Craig was close to being sick, not at the sight before him but more about the disturbing thought that an alien, a Slitheen no less, had forced itself on him; gross, yuck, ew ew ew!

'When I take ownership of you, I think it'll feel even better to be naked' he grinned as he managed to get out of his skin completely.

'So who are you then, what's your real name' Craig tried to stall for time.

'Oh Tim is my name, just not short for Timothy. I am Timor Fel Fotch Razzle-Beach Slitheen' he snarled with a grin.

'And what do you want with me?' he asked curiously and fearfully mixed into one.

'Well, I had my orders to keep you in check considering who you were found with, and…Oh I've always had…well a thing, for humans. They're all so thin and bendy and pink. Such fascinating creatures with all those chemicals inside, it's amazing. And you Craig, oh, you are just so beautiful, young and bouncy and just beautiful. I want to make you my own' he sighed.

'By trying to rape me, forcing yourself on me?' he snapped. It was sick and wrong and awful.

'It's the way me planet works, dominating yourself over that which you want. And I think it's time I got my claws on you Craig' he laughed.

'Yeah, well first you've gotta catch me' Craig taunted. It was bad enough the thought of a man doing that to him, but a Slitheen? Never in a thousand years. He ran to the door, forced it open and bolted down the stairs out into the sunlight. Ahead of him was a large white building surround with a barbed wire. He guessed that was where the Doctor was and even if it wasn't, it was a good of place as any to hide in. he sprinted as fast as he could, the sound of Timor's feet slapping against the ground in his ears.

…

The Doctor had been taken to the gravity workshop to help organise the construction of a rather special piece of machinery. The plan was to build an amplifier inside the gravity core which would help with the launch and with the warp-holes Flowers was experimenting with. He didn't really want to help, but he couldn't exactly not either, if the machine went wrong, a whole solar system could be ripped to shreds, and even if it was a prison he couldn't just let that happen. He was just helping with some wiring when Flowers came striding into the room.

'You know, I could really do with my screwdriver back to help with this' he noted as she approached him.

'You'll get it back in due course; right now I'm more interested in the orbital patterns' she stated firmly. He knew arguing would do no good, he just hoped she'd keep her word. He'd need the sonic if he wanted to get out of this place anytime soon.

As if on cue, a computer started beeping, and as everyone else continued with their work, he and Flowers went over to it.

'Now that's interesting, the orbits have all changed' he noted.

'How?' Flowers asked curiously, after all planets couldn't just decide to change what the orbited.

'No idea' he replied quietly.

'We should go tell Issabel about this' Flowers noted and began for the door. The Doctor quickly followed her through the darkened corridors until they reached a closed wooden door, the door to Issabel's office. The Doctor shot his arm out to stop Flowers, and when she looked at him questioningly, he silently pointed to the rippling blue light around the doorframe. She cautiously poked the door open and crack and the two of them peered through.

There was Issabel, a zip around her forehead undone and the skin was beginning to fall away. Flowers clamped a hand to her mouth to stop herself crying out in alarm. They watched as a Slitheen-like creature emerged, only this one was much bigger that the average Slitheen, and a much pale green, a sort of mint colour. They both backed away from the door, but flowers stumbled slightly and gasped. The door burst open, and Issabel stood there, clearly not happy to see them. Her face smoothly changed into a sickeningly sweet smile though.

'Well, two little eavesdroppers, naughty little children' she giggled madly.

'Who are you?' the Doctor demanded.

'Oh, I am Ermenshrew, Ermenshrew Fel Fotch Razzle-Beach Blathereen' she grinned.

'Blathereen? So if you're not a Slitheen, what are you doing here?' he asked.

'No, more to the point, what am I going to do with you two?' she laughed and swung one of her claws. The Doctor and Flowers ducked.

'RUN!' he yelled, taking Flower's hand and the pair were soon off and away. Ermenshrew was right behind them as they fled down the corridor.

'Come on, we need to get to the systems hub' Flowers puffed as they reached the opening to a very narrow and dark corridor. The Doctor lightly pushed her through first before following her. it was so narrow only one could fit threw at a time, and once he was a few feet in, he turned and looked over his shoulder, grinning to see that Ermenshrew was stuck at the end, unable to pass. He laughed as he followed Flowers, hearing the Blathereen howling with fury as they got further and further away.

…

Rose groaned as she forced herself to her feet. It felt like she had been bruised everywhere, her head was pounding and her pace racing. She felt herself being steadied and looking up she saw Dennel helping her stay up straight. He looked a little roughed up but otherwise ok. The Slitheen-lookalike also looked alright as they all climbed out of the twisted chunk of metal that used to be the shuttle.

'Great, where are we?' Rose growled in frustration. She'd never find the Doctor and Craig at this rate!

'Justice Delta by the looks of it, we missed Justica Alpha, that's where that Doctor of yours is, and where your Brother was headed' Dennel shrugged.

'Great, well how do we get there now?' she snapped. At this the Slitheen-lookalike coughed to get her attention.

'We could always look for help' he suggested.

'Sorry but why should I trust a Slitheen who hides in human skin' she rounded on him.

'Ok, firstly I'd like to point out that I am not a Slitheen, but a Blathereen, and secondly, I was only in that skin to hide the fact that I… well look like this, it tends to scare some of the inmates' he gestured at his form.

'I can't think why' she whispered under her breath.

'Listen, he's right though Rose, we should try to find help' Dennel said reassuringly. She sighed and nodded, and started walking. She had no idea that there was no help possible, well, none that didn't come with a monster inside.

...

Craig clutched at his chest in pain, trying to regain his breath. That run had been awful. He'd scaled a barbed wire fence, he had the cuts and bruises to show it, dodged around large spot lights in the courtyard, ducked past windows, had to sneak past guards before he was finally inside the prison, all the whilst being chased by Tim. He probably looked a right mess.. He was now hiding in a room filled to the brim with computers, the black glass floor covered in blue lines of information. The room was dark and with so many control panels, the perfect place to hide.

It was because of that thought that had caused him to jump nearly a mile in the air as a door opened. He stood ready to fight if he had too, his fists raised, but his mouth dropped openm and his eyes widened, because standing in the doorway, looking equally stunned was the Doctor.

'Doctor!' he yelled as he ran over.

'Craig!' he beamed as he wrapped his arms around him, spinning them on the spot.

'Oh god, I thought I'd never find you again' Craig grinned as they broke apart.

'I'd never let that happen' the Doctor grinned, before it turned to a frown as he took in Craig's appearance. He looked terrible, his face had some minor bruises, his knuckled looked red raw, his clothes were tore in various places, and he was standing funny, like his sides hurt him. He looked as though he'd been attacked. He prayed that wasn't the case but he had a feeling it was.

'What happen to you' he whispered soothingly. Craig looked away, he clearly didn't want to answer but the Doctor was having none of that.

'Craig, you can tell me anything' he said. He really hoped both Rose and Craig trusted him with anything after all they had been through together. Craig's eyes began to get fairly watery, but no tears fell yet.

'I… was assigned this guard, and he… well he… tried to…' he trailed of as the first tear fell. The Doctor's stomach dropped. He might have a cold and hard exterior, but he knew that look when he saw it, he wasn't completely dense. He'd heard what happened in prisons, inmates and guard trying to get power over someone.

'Please tell me you haven't been raped' he whispered in his ear as he brought him in for another hug. Craig clung to him, shaking slightly but still standing strong.

'No, no… but he tried to do that to me... and he forced… forced himself on me, he…kept kissing me' he choked out. The Doctor let out a low growl as he hold his friend tighter. He'd get this guard back for this, he'd pay for what he'd done to his Craig, even if it wasn't rape. He'd be sorry, sorry he messed with the wrong human.

'He… threatened to several times… on the shuttle here, I knew he was really going to do it… he was on top of me… he'd pulled my hoodie and t-shirt off, he was undoing my jeans… and I snapped… I kicked and punched him, but then a zipper popped out of his head… he's a Slitheen' Craig cried.

'Sssh, you're alright, you're back by my side where you belong, I'll keep you safe, I promise' he whispered reassuringly as he gently rubbed circles on his back.

'But he was chasing me here' Craig told him, he sounded so terrified, it hurt the Doctor's hearts to hear.

'Yes, and we had a slight problem of our own' Flowers broke in here, partly to remind the two of them she was actually with them.

'I want to know exactly what he did, where, and when he'd done to you, but later, alright' he looked Craig in the eye, and when the blonde wiped his eyes of his tears and nodded, he led them both over to a large control panel.

'This controls the gravity right?' he directed at Flowers, who nodded an affirmative.

'Right, turn it off' he commanded.

'Off?' she questioned.

'Off' he confirmed. She looked conflicted but chose to trust him, and flicked a large red switch on. Instantly their feet left the floor, the cloths fluttering around them, and their hair, except the Doctor's, hair swirled around them. They were floating.

'Oh my god' Craig giggled and the Doctor laughed. Flowers just looked at them like they were mad.

'We're flying, this is just, fantastic' Craig grinned. the Doctor just smiled at him as they neared the ceiling. There were large tunnels in it, sort of shelves which seemed to run everywhere, into the other rooms.

'These things, they're like tunnel yeah' Craig asked.

'Indeed, they lead all over the SCAT House, it's where the globs live' Flowers told them.

'Did you bring my Sonic Screwdriver with you' the Doctor asked, and she nodded and took it out of her pocket, handing it over to him.

'If I turn it on, we can have a little light' he said, illuminating the darkened area with the little blue light.

'And we're going into them' Craig guessed.

'Through the shafts, always great fun' the Doctor laughed as it used his arms to swim through the air, and a few moments later he was inside. Craig was next, followed closely by Flowers. They drifted through the narrow tunnels, in a crawling position when the Doctor suddenly shot out his arms to stop himself.

'What is it?' Craig asked as he nearly head-butted him in what would have been a very embarrassing place for his head to have been had he not stopped himself with his arms.

'Look up there' the Doctor commanded. He crushed himself to the side of the tunnel, allowing Craig to drift up next to him. It was a tight squeeze, but eventually Craig's head was level with his. He looked forwards and gasped. In front of them, further up the tunnel were two Slitheen coated in a glue-like substance, but it wasn't restricting their movement, it was like a suit around them.

'What are they doing here?' Craig whispered, slightly scared.

'Who is here, I can't see' Flowers snapped from behind them somewhere.

'Ecktosca and Dram, and they're disguised as globs' the Doctor quietly replied. Craig went to try and move backwards, but his leg banged against the side of the tunnel. Instantly both Slitheen turned to face them and snarled, not in the least happy to see they had been found. The three of the let out a low gulp of fear.

**...**

**And there's part three at last, named Monsters in us all because it seems as though everyone in this chapter has a Slitheen or Blathereen or something inside them ) Anyway, next chapters the last one of The Monsters Inside before moving onto 'Dalek' which some people seem quite interested in, and I don't plan to let people down. I already have the first chapter of Dalek written anyway, but some of it might need a bit of ajusting. I hope people liked this chapter, and Craig fighting back but we still haven't seen the last of Tim, who I'd like to point out was made up by me but is really just to keep haunting Craig to be honest. I got the name Timor from the Latin word for fear, it seemed appropriate. As always I welcome reviews, and I'll try to be a little quicker in the future ; ) Read on, my faithful readers!**


	40. The Monsters Inside, Harsh Justice

**Hiya! I'm finally out of my writer's block on this adventure and have blasted through the final chapter to make up for being so late with my last update : ) So this is the last part, Harsh Justice, and that's exactly what's in it. So I hope you enjoy, and please note that I don't own Doctor Who or the Monsters inside, but I do own Craig Tyler! Read at your own risk... Because the Monsters are inside!**

**...**

**The Monsters Inside, Harsh Justice**

'HELLO! IS ANBODY THERE?!' Rose screamed at the top of her lungs. She, Dennel and the Blathereen had been walking for hours, through a set of blue trees. She had no idea that there were so many shades of blue in the first place, it was a beautiful forest but she hadn't the time to enjoy it, she needed to get to the Doctor and Craig as soon as possible.

'ANYONE?!' Dennel yelled as they came to a clearing in the woods. Rose screamed in horror as he threw up in a bush. The ground was littered with corpses, mangled and clawed at, some ripped to shreds. Pools and blood and human entrails were scattered about.

'Oh my god, it must be all the people on Justica Beta, we had heard rumour that people had been disappearing' Dennel admitted.

'And now you know why' the Blathereen spoke up from behind them. Their stomachs dropped at his tone. It was obvious he had betrayed their trust, he was in on this for sure.

'You see, I had you call for help, for me' he grinned.

'You do you mean?' Rose asked dreading the answer.

'You see, no human longer lives on Justica Beta, just my kind' he hissed happily. A loud whirring and banging overhead drew their attention to the sky.

'What's that' Rose asked, glittering in the sky was a sphere, silver in colour, floating around but with puffs of black smoke coming from it. It was getting lower and lower over the woods.

'It's one of the Monitoring stations we use in this system, it must have got in the way of the shuttle and been damaged in the crash' Dennel shrugged.

'Fascinating, now back to business' the Blathereen sneered as he raised his claws.

'RUN!' Rose screamed as she grabbed Dennel's hand, and that's what they did, running away from the monsters on the inside, heading for the Monitor station, if she was going to find out what was going on, where better to look?

They managed to dodge and duck through the forest without the Blathereen catching up to them, and found the large metal orb lodged in a smouldering crater in the ground, having clearly just crashed.

'Hurry up, inside' Dennel frantically whispered, pulling open a circular door. Rose quickly climb through and once Dennel was through, they slammed it shut. Hopefully the Blathereen wouldn't think to look inside for them any time soon.

The inside was dark, illuminated by several large screens with lined the circular interior. Many button and switches glowed, providing a little more light. The screens all showed different views of the forest, which was very helpful in keeping an eye on a certain Blathereen.

'Right, he turning away from us, not too far away but it looks like we're safe for now' Dennel whispered to her. Rose distractedly nodded, she was watching something else on the screen. A man with wiry blonde hair, a powerful build, wearing a man uniform. He was stumbling into the clearing, out of a sort of blue ring of light.

'Who's that?' she asked, pointing him out to Dennel. He squinted at the slightly pixelated image.

'That's Robsen, Warder Robsen' he realised.

'Come on then, let's go find him before the Blathereen does' Rose said as she popped the hatch, and went off to go find him. Rose's mind was whirling, he had literally stepped out of a bubble of light, maybe it was a teleport or a link to somewhere else, if she could use it, she could get back to the Doctor and Craig in the hour, a thought which gave her more hope than she thought possible. She ran faster and soon enough she ran into the man named Robsen, nearly knocking him to the ground. He skidded to a stop in front of her.

'Oh… Oh thank goodness' he panted.

'You alright mate?' she asked as Dennel came to a stop beside her. The man's eye's widened.

'Dennel, what is going on? I saw all those corpses back there' he cried.

'No idea, but everyone on the planet is either dead or a Blathereen, we have got to get out of here' Dennel stated, alarm in his tone.

'Hang on, what if he's one' Rose asked suddenly suspicious. Robsen sighed.

'Here, give me your hand' he said, holding out his own. Rose tentatively placed her's in his, and he rubbed it over his forehead. She sighed in relief as there was no zipper she could feel.

'OK, prove enough, so how can we get out?' she smiled at him.

'There's the warp-hole portal I used, it might be able to get us to the next planet' he shrugged and when Rose nodded, he led them to it. The ring of light in space was hanging in front of her, swirling round and round, it was making her a little dizzy.

'What, and you just walk into it?' she asked, moving forwards as Robsen nodded. But the instant she made contact with it she was thrown back slightly, it was like walking into solid air. She let out a gasp of surprize as she stumbled back.

'That's weird, it was working before' Robsen said in confusion.

'Well it's not now' Dennel drily commented. Rose sighed; nothing could ever by easy, could it?

…

'STAY BACK' the Doctor yelled, holding his Sonic Screwdriver out in front of him as the two Slitheen floated towards them, squeezing through the tunnel. Craig whimpered slightly and the Doctor could see the fear in his eyes. He knew it was more to do with that other Slitheen than the two in front of him. he restrained himself from growling in anger, that Slitheen would be sorry when he got a hold of him.

'Fear not, we mean you no harm' Ecktosca cried, eyeing the Sonic Screwdriver nervously.

'You escaped from prison and you mean no harm?' Flowers spat.

'We didn't belong there anyway' Dram shot back.

'What are you doing here anyway, if I'd just escaped prison I'd try to get as far away from it as possible' the Doctor asked. Why would they hang around after all.

'We need to get off the planet first, luckily we know exactly how' Dram said proudly.

'There are a series of warp-holes which link all the world in the Justica System, and our cousins the Blathereen have been working on expanding them, using the work commencing at the SCAT House. Once their done, we can use them to get out of this stupid system and back home' Ecktosca explained.

'That's what must have drawn the Tardis of course and brought us here' the Doctor realised.

'But people would notice if there was a hole in space on this planet' Craig pointed out.

'Of course!' Flowers cried from behind them.

'What' the Doctor asked, unable to turn and face her in the narrow tunnel.

'If there is a warp-Hole on Justica Alpha, it must be in the aquaculture compound, it's been closed down for months, something to do with maintenance they said, but if they've got Blathereen inside them, then it must be where the Warp-Hole's hidden' she explained.

'We need to get there' the Doctor decided. Ecktosca and Dram used their claws to push themselves backwards through the tunnels, the Doctor followed with Craig close behind him and Flowers bringing up the rear. She directed them all the way from the back, so it took a long time but eventually they floated down into another room, which unfortunately still had it's gravity on, so the five of them all landed with a loud crash in a heap on the floor. Groaning with pain, they disentangled themselves and looked around. It was like a huge warehouse, chipped white paint covering all the surfaces. Huge grey metal beams supported the ceiling, and two large generator looking things were standing in the centre, beeping continuously. Between them was a large vortex of red light, hanging in the air.

'What is that, the Warp-Hole?' Craig asked.

'Yeah, but it's off now, that's why it's red' the Doctor explained.

'It just needs turning on' Ecktosca commented, moving over to one of the generators. He flicked some switches and pressed some buttons, and suddenly the ring of light changed to blue.

'The portal has been activated' he stated happily. He immediately walked into it and faded in a shimmer of light, as did Dram as he followed his brother.

'Well, of we go then' the Doctor grinned, and Craig smiled back as he took his hand and they walked through it together. It was a very strange feeling, it was like been ripped into thousands of pieces but it wasn't painful, it just tingled, and then they were all thrown back together, only now they were standing in a smaller and darkened room, it was like a small cupboard. As soon as they had got their bearings, Flowers had clearly walked through as she joined them.

'Right, just in case Ermenshrew is still trying to follow us' the Doctor muttered, pointing the Sonic at the ring on this end. It buzzed for a few moments, before it changed to red.

'Where are we' Craig asked Flowers. She looked at her watch, which had a sort of screen on it with several spheres and a blinking white dot.

'We're on Justica Delta' she said after a few moments. The doctor was about to say something, when the door opened, and there stood two rather surprized and angry looking Blathereen.

…

'Great, so without that thing we're stuck basically' Rose asked with a sigh. When the hell was she going to find her brother and best friend?!

'Looks like it' Dennel sighed as well. This was really creepy, stuck in the middle of a forest with corpses, and a lunatic Blathereen looking for them. The three of them jumped as something leapt out of the bushes behind them, and turning, they saw said Blathereen. He grinned at the sight of them.

'There you are' he snarled.

'RUN!' Rose screamed, and that's what they did, running as fast as they could, the Blathereen pursuing them as fast as he could.

'Look!' Dennel suddenly cried, and Rose looked up at where he was pointing. The Monitor Station was trying to operate properly, but it was still smoking and hovering low.

'Right, on three, jump' Rose cried. As it hovered down, she leapt, Dennel and Robsen right behind her. with a crash, the three of them landed in the station in a heap, the screams of the Blathereen getting further away. The three of them laughed slightly in relief as they clambered to their feet.

'That was close' Dennel grinned. Rose smiled before turning to look at the monitors, trying to keep an eye on their Blathereen friend, but what she saw made her heart stop for a moment, before she let out a whoop of delight. There, on the screen, was the Doctor and Craig, but they were surrounded by Blathereen.

'That's them, the Doctor and Craig, oh if only we could hear what was happening' she complained.

'Here, let me' Dennel moved past her, sliding a lever upwards. Instantly the volume came up, and they all quietened down to listen.

…

'IN!' one of the Blathereen yelled at the five of them, and the Doctor, Craig, Flowers, and the Slitheen brothers all found themselves in a large office, lined with red and white walls, a large black sleek desk and chair taking up most of the back wall. Filing cabinets lined the other wall, and sitting in a chair was a large Blathereen, much larger than the others.

'Sir, we found this lot inside a cupboard' one of the guard Blathereens said to the larger one.

'Thank you, dismissed' he hissed, and with a polite and respectful nod, the guard Blathereen left the office.

'I am Don Arco, leader of the Blathereen family, and I want to know how you came to be here, and why' he stated boldly.

'We came through a portal, one of the Warp-Holes' the Doctor spoke up. Don Arco laughed coldly.

'The Warp-Holes, they are not ready yet, they could have taken you anywhere but you chose to come here, unlikely' he hissed.

'We're looking for my sister as a matter of fact' Craig snapped coldly, but Don Arco ignored him, seemingly rather talking boldly about himself and his plans.

'The Warp-Holes are been collated in power into a super-portal' he boasted.

'Why do that?' the Doctor asked with a frown. If the Blathereen were like the Slitheen, and they certainly seemed to be, whatever this super-portal was for could not be good for them.

'It will allow us to move the entire Justica system' he grinned.

'But why would the Blathereen want to do that?' Flowers asked.

'The Justica suns are some of the biggest and hottest in the universe, we can use them to burn weak and wasted galaxies into fissile material which will bring us a fortune' he grinned happily at the thought.

'And the prisoners' the Doctor started for him to carry on.

'At first we stuck to the law to avoid suspicion, but as the Blathereen overtook the number of other beings in this system we started seizing anyone and everyone, regardless of whether they've committed a crime. They will work on processing the material. It's win-win, we get a fortune in cash, without even getting our claws dirty' he laughed. Suddenly, there was a massive bang, and chunks of rumble and dust filled the room as it shook. They all looked around in alarm as another bang shook the room even more. Sticking into the outside wall, having clearly crashed, were two metal spheres. The room was beginning to collapse around them, as the Doctor grabbed onto Craig's hand with his left, Flower's with his right.

'RUN!' he yelled at them, sprinting through the door of the collapsing room.

…

Rose watched as the Doctor, Craig, and the woman all clambered through the rubble, running as fast as they could out of the prison when suddenly the entire station began to feel as though it was moving a lot quicker. Faster and faster, hurtling through the sky.

'What's happening' she cried in alarm.

'The Station… now that it's out of the trees it can move faster' Dennel yelled back in reply as he held onto some of the controls. It vaguely reminded Rose of how the Tardis moved,

'Oh… and look where we're heading' Robsen sighed slightly. On all the screens, the building the Doctor and Craig had just fled from was getting closer. The screens began to flash red.

'WARNING, WARNING, IMPACT IMMANENT' the computer told them.

'Right, we need to get out' Rose told them trying to be calm.

'We'll have to jump' Dennel nodded in agreement, and as he and Robsen forced the hatch open, Rose saw the sky blasting past them. She took and deep breath and ran and jumped, spinning through the air.

'ROSE!' she heard a voice yell as she tumble downwards, she was so glad to hear that voice, because it was the voice of her brother. She felt herself hit something soft and her flight stopped, before she fell just a little bit further. She was in a heap on the ground. Both the Doctor and Craig had tried to catch her, only she had knocked them off balance. But she didn't care, and it didn't stop the grin sprawling across her face.

'Found you' the Doctor beamed, as if they had all been playing a game of hide and seek all along.

'We win' Craig grinned as he wrapped his arms around his baby sister. She hugged him and the Doctor back, and soon the three were caught in a very big hug, so glad to have found each other again, glad to be back together exactly as they should be.

'Not quite yet though, we need to stop the Blathereen' the Doctor returned to seriousness as he helped them to their feet. And they could see what he meant, as dozens of Blathereen were literally pouring out of the prison's gates, clearing in search of them.

'Come on!' the Doctor cried, and grabbing Craig's and Rose's hands, he led them, Dennel and Robsen, who had both also landed safely, and Flowers into the nearby trees, taking cover as their opponents tried to find them. Suddenly the air was filled with the sound of cheerfing, clattering, crashing, and shrieking, and peering through the trees, they could see dozens of kids pouring out of the prison, into the surrounding area.

'Who are they?' Craig asked.

'They're the detention center kids, this must be where they're held' Robsen explained.

'We need to get to Justica Alpha' the Doctor told him.

'Well there's another Warp-Hole at the other end of the forest' Dennel put in.

'How'd you know that?' Robsen asked.

'I saw it on the monitors' Dennel shrugged.

'Take us there' the Doctor swiftly interrupted, and with a nod, the group began to move, when suddenly Flowers stopped.

'Hush' she ordered. They all frowned in confusion at her, but she pressed a finger to her lips, and moved over to a bush. As she pushed the leaves apart, a large green head popped out, the head a Slitheen.

'Oh… you startled me' it cried in a female voice.

'Who are you?' Flowers demanded.

'Callis, Callis Fel-Fotch Heppen-Bar Slitheen' she replied simply as she climbed out of the bush she was clearly hiding in.

'Are you related to Ecktosca and Dram?' the Doctor asked curiously.

'I'm there Aunt' she nodded.

'Doctor, we really don't have time for this, we have to stop the Blathereen, or this planet and all the others are going to be sent flying into another galaxy' Craig reminded him urgently.

'Quite right' the Doctor agreed, and once again he set off at a run, Craig and Rose right behind him. Flowers, Dennel, Robsen and even Callis following closely behind them. They wove through the trees and bushes, dodging the Blathereen at all costs, until they eventually reached a clearing, where a bright blue ring of light hanging in front of them, another Warp-Hole.

'Right then, here we go' the Doctor smiled slightly as he stepped through it, his hands in Rose's and Craig's, and they appeared in the Lab in the SCAT-House. Moments later, Flowers, Dennel, Robsen, and Callis appeared behind them.

'Sssh, Doctor look…' Craig whispered. On the other side of the room, Don Arco and Ermenshrew were at a large control panel. They had beaten them here, and were begin to activate the project. The Doctor silently waved his hands up and down, and they all ducked down behind some more controls, crowded round in a circle.

'We need to stop them before they can activate the super-portal. Rose, you and Flowers turn off the gravity. That'll distract them long enough for Dennel, Robsen and Callis to destroy the controls, rip out the wires, anything, but trash them. Me and Craig will work on the compression field, that way we can stop all the Blathereen throughout Justica in one go' the Doctor quickly whispered and they all nodded, all ready to play their part in this.

The first part of the plan went flawlessly. Rose and Flowers had crept across the controls in the centre of the room, whilst Dennel, Robsen and Callis silently moved over to the controls further to the left. Rose hid onto the side of the panel as Flowers pressed some button and pulled down a switch, and a moment later she fell herself nearly pulled into the air, but she held on tight, keeping herself hidden.

'What the hell?' Don Arco cried as he found himself floating in the air, spinning around trying to find the cause. Only he and Ermenshrew had been affected as the others had all held on.

'It must be the gravity distortions building, we're close sir' Ermenshrew grinned as she used her claws to swim through the air. She didn't see that Dennel had opened up some of the control panels and he, Robsen and Callis were tearing wires out, mixing them up, pressing button and setting levers and dials to different settings. As she managed to get back through the air to the controls, she failed to spot the Doctor as he took out his Sonic Screwdriver and aimed it at the Compression field around her neck, nor did she see it light up.

The Doctor silently mouthed for Craig to turn a big lever to the right, as he himself pressed some buttons and flicked some switches.

'Go' he mouthed to the others, and clinging onto the controls, they all managed to keep low and get to the door. Once Robsen was through and had joined the others, where thankfully the gravity was restored, he quietly closed the door. The Doctor immediately began running, and taking the hint, they all sprinted out after him, through the corridors, across the court yard, through the barb wired gates, and running towards the forest when they heard a voice cry out.

'Auntie?' it sound surprized, and turning, they saw Ecktosca and Dram, who quickly embraced their Aunt in a hug. but the moment was broken as they was a massive explosion in the distance, and a large mushroom cloud of thick black smoke ascended into the air. They had done it, the Blathereen were history!

'What was that?' Ecktosca cried in alarm.

'That was the end of the Blathereen' the Doctor said mournfully.

'Then Justice is served' Dram grinned wickedly. The Doctor, Rose and Craig all shot him disgusted looked. They may have been the ones to kill them, but they had had no choice, it needed to be done.

'Right, well I've found my friends, so I think that's all' the Doctor said, instead of the bile that he been on the tip of his tongue to say to the wicked Slitheen. With a final nod at them, the Doctor took Rose and Craig by the hand, and led them away from this nightmare.

…

'So what'll happen now then?' Rose asked as they approached the Tardis, where this whole mess had begun.

'Well, The Compression Field would have acted like a Transmat Beam and carried the explosion through to them, sort of like the Electricity passed to all the Slitheen in Downing Street. It'll have killed every Blathereen in Justica sadly enough. Flowers, Dennel, and Robsen will most likely inform the proper authorities of what happened, the prisons will shut down, and all the innocent prisoners will be freed' the Doctor grinned as he let them into the Tardis.

'And the Slitheen?' Craig asked as he entered the threshold, closing the door behind them.

'They can celebrate, 'a new golden age of crime'' the Doctor smiled slightly.

'Well its about time we got out of here' he said after a moment of silence.

'Yeah, but all I wanna see right now is my bed, see you tomorrow' Craig said quietly, and without even looking at them, he moved across the room, heading for his room. Rose and the Doctor looked at each other, somewhat surprized by the sudden change in attitude. The Doctor let out a sigh.

'He's probably hurting, that guard of his, apparently he was pretty rough on him' the Doctor said quietly.

'One of the Slitheen mentioned that his brother had been enjoying himself with Craig…' Rose trailed off.

'Craig said he tried to rape him' the Doctor said almost silently. Rose's hand shot to her mouth, her eyes widened.

'But he didn't… please tell me Craig wasn't' she begged.

'No, Craig managed to get away, but… it'll be hard to deal with' the Doctor sighed.

'Maybe I should go after him…' Rose thought aloud. She wanted to be there for her Big Bro, just like he always was for her.

'I think it might be better if I talk to him, it's not something most men would want to talk about with their sister is it?' the Doctor pointed out. Rose sighed, the Doctor was right, she'd be embarassed to talk to Craig about something like that if it happened, but for a man? That would probably be even worse.

'Ok, you talk to him, goodnight Doctor' she said, standing on her tip-toes and kissing his cheek. A moment later she was gone. The Doctor felt heat radiating from the point her lips had touched, his hand floated up to his cheek, before reality came back to him, and he readied himself for the conversation he was about to have.

…

The Doctor slowly paced up the corridor. He knew he had to talk to Craig, but it was hard for him. he'd be alone and now suddenly he had people to care for, people he wanted to care for, wanted to be happy, and now one of them was hurting, and it broke his hearts. He stopped outside Craig's door as heard a soft sound; it was the sound of crying.

He gently opened the door, peering into the room. The blonde man in question was sitting on his bed, his clutched around his knees, hugging himself to his chest. His face was downwards, tears falling, his hair hanging around his face. The Doctor practically ran and sat next to him. He cautiously placed an arm around him, trying to comfort him.

'Sssh Craig, it's alright' he said nearly silently.

'I'm fine' he tried to stand up as he wiped his tears away, but the Doctor was having none of it, he held on tight and pulled him back down.

'Nope, you're scared aren't you?' he asked more firmly. Craig sighed slightly. This would not be easy.

'The g…guard, my guard, he's just really… fre…freaked me out' he shook slightly with tears. The Doctor's hearts nearly broke at the sight of him, his best friend, the brother of the woman he was beginning too…, so sad, so hurt.

'What do you mean' he asked, trying to sound gentle but there was no denying the anger also present. Craig broke down even more.

'He kept…kept…threatening to… go…go…further, and…he was going too… he had his…trousers off…his legs around me' he wailed as fresh tears overcame him.

'HE WHAT?!' the Doctor yelled, that bastard! He knew he'd tried to rape Craig, and that said Craig had been bottling it away until they'd got out of that mess, but he had no idea just how close the guard had come to actually doing that terrible act to one of his best friends. He'd pay for doing this to such a sweet kind and compassionate man!

'He didn't though… he was inter…interrupted' Craig pointed out quietly. The Doctor softened slightly, he was scaring Craig even more. He needed to help him right now and that _fool_ could wait. And a fool he was, he'd pay for this.

'Sssh, hush now, he can't get to you anymore. Craig, this is it, you need to decide what you what. I said I'd show you and your sister the universe, but this is what it's like. Where there is good, there's bad, I can't be there to stop everything. I can try as hard as I can, but one day, something might go wrong and you end up dead. I couldn't bare that. Are you absolutely sure you what to stay with me?' he asked. He knew it was unfair to do this to Craig now, not in this state, but he needed Craig to know, know the risks involved. Craig wiped at his eyes and took a long shaking breath.

'I…I want to stay. I used to work in an office, but now… I'm so much more than that, I can help people, do good for planets, I can be someone, not a nobody from an old estate. It might be risky, but I can hardly go back to a normal life now can I?' he scoffed the last bit. The Doctor would admit it too, once the universe picked you, your normal life flew straight out the window.

'Ok, ok you want to stay, and I'd love for you too, but I also need to look after you, so right now you need to sleep' he said softly. He knew it might be difficult for Craig to do that, but he had to try.

'I can't right now! I've have nightmares' Craig protested. He knew it sounded silly and childish, but he really didn't care right now.

'There's something I can do to help Craig, I'll block your memory from your sleep. It won't make you forget, but it should stop it from being at the front of your mind so much' he offered. Craig quickly nodded. He raised his fingers to Craig's temples, going into his mind to lock the memories just a little bit, enough to give him a peaceful night's sleep. Craig's mind was one of the strangest things he had ever walked through. It was like it was currently normal, but heading towards something else, something different, like it was going to last a lot longer than a human mind should. Something strange was clearly going to happen to Craig in the future. And there was fear, fear of two words in particular, but before he could find out what they were, Craig had rolled over, fast asleep, surprizing the Doctor right out of his mind. The Doctor lightly kissed his forehead, brushing his blonde hair from across his face with his hand as he pulled the covers around his sleeping form, and with one last glance, he left his fragile friend alone to sleep.

…

The Doctor growled angrily as he left Craig's room. How dare that vile guard treat his best friend like that?! How dare you get him friend into such a fragile and broken state, he'd play dearly for this! He'd teach him a lesson he'd never forget he decided as he briskly stormed through the hallway, back into the control room. He furiously set the co-ordinates for the prison on Justica Delta, and stepping out; he came face the face with the very man who had taken Craig from him in the first place. Well, the Slitheen who'd broken his human. He'd clearly put his suit back on since Craig had escaped him.

'What, the hell…' he began, but the Doctor smacked him around his mouth before he could get any further, knocking him to the floor. He looked up in fear as the Doctor bore a monstrously murderous expression across his features.

'You want to abuse people, well I'll show you how to properly do it' he hissed venomously. The Slitheen pretending to be a man shivered by the tone of his voice, but a moment later his eyes drifted shut as the Doctor punched him again, across the floor, knocking him out cold. He dragged the man into the Tardis, before piloting it once more.

…

They were halfway across the universe, in one of the most feared places in the universe, one of the only creatures to kill you whilst you were happy, very happy. He knew Rose would condemn this action, and that Craig would say he didn't want this, but he didn't care, nobody hurt one of _his_ humans and got away with it.

The Tardis landed in a darkened room, well-furnished and lit with heart shaped red lights and pink candles. He heaved the man onto a large white sofa and walked back into the Tardis, a cold and hate filled aura around him. He knew what would happen next, and he hoped the man felt the terror Craig felt for every second of it. He went over to the screen as he piloted the Tardis away from the planet.

A young girl in very revealing red tight dress had wandered into the room as the guard started coming too. There was a sly grin on her face. The place he had taken him too had a race of creatures made of gas that inhibited hosts, and feed on the energy men gave off when they enjoyed… that special moment. His eyebrows shot up as the girl practically forced herself on top of him. He yelped in surprize at her eagerness, but was soon groaning in pleasure as she slipped his trousers off, quickly followed by his boxers. He groaned and yelled in delight, but the screams rapidly became filled with terror as he literally burst into golden dust as he peaked, the girl moaned pleasurably as she glowed gold for a moment, absorbing his energy. He shut the image off the screen, not wanting to watch anything else.

'That's what will happen to anybody that hurts my Rose or Craig Tyler' he growled to himself, warning the universe against doing anything bad to _his_ humans. He frowned as the Tardis controls began beeping. His frowned as he looked at the monitor, there was something calling him too it, a plea for help, coming from earth… 2012. He decided to check it out in the morning, for now, Rose and Craig needed to rest, to put _this_ journey behind them.

**...**

**And there's The Monsters Inside, at last! So, we see a dark side to the Doctor, but in all fairness, considering what had happened to Craig, I can hardly see him not doing that. Oh, and that was the Sex Gas from Torchwood, it seemed appropriate considering the Slitheen's crime : ) And the ending's a good lead into 'Dalek' which'll be up soon, I promise : ) Read on and Review my faithful readers!**


	41. Dalek, Vile Men

**Woohoo! And off we go! A few people have mentioned wanted to read 'Dalek', so here's part one. Just a little warning, a teeny tiny bit of gay slagging, but nothing too bad and I'd just like to point out, no offense is meant. Other then that I hope that you enjoy this chapter, and that Doctor who is not mine, but Craig Tyler is ; )**

**...**

**Dalek**

**Dalek – Vile Men**

As the Tardis landed with a dull thud, The Doctor, Rose, and Craig all stepped out, looking around to take in their surroundings. It looked like some kind of tunnel lined with glass tanks, but it was pretty dark so it was hard to tell. The Tardis had drawn them there, but to what, they had no idea.

'So, what is it? What's wrong?' were the first words spoken, by Rose. Today she was wearing a short pink jumper over an armless white T-shirt and jeans.

'Don't know, some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course…' the Doctor said thoughtfully, looking around for what might have emitted such signal.

'Where are we?' Craig questioned; who today was wearing black jeans, a light blue tight T-shirt under a long blue hoodie. The Doctor noted he seemed a little down-cast but was trying to put up a cheerful façade. He was probably trying not to think about that creep he'd been unfortunate enough to encounter. He knew Craig well enough to know that he'd be ok soon enough; he just needed a little space.

'Earth, Utah, North America. About half a mile underground' the Doctor replied quickly.

'And… when are we?' Rose pressed. She was starting to get used to this now, she knew to ask what time frame they were in.

'2012' was the simply answer.

'God, that's so close, so I should be... 27' Craig voiced as he worked the maths out in his head.

The Doctor suddenly noticed a light switch, and pacing over to it, he flicked it upwards, and light flood the room. It was massive! Filled with tanks and little tags, labelling the exhibits inside them. It was a giant museum, but not the normal kind, filled with bones and fossils, but one that was so much better. It was filled with alien things, a museum, for aliens, fantastic!

'Blimey! It's a great big museum!' Rose breathed in astonishment.

'An alien museum. Someone's got a hobby. They must've spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust... that's the milometer from the Roswell Spaceship' he said. They had started pacing, and he indicated said milometer, a large round silver disc like objects as they passed its tank.

Rose noticed a large green arm with yellowing claws ending it as she approached its tanks.

'That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm, it's been stuffed' she stated, somewhat delighted that she knew what it was. The Doctor however wasn't paying attention. He had moved over to a tank with a silver metal head like helmet thing. It had a sort of handle shape on top of it, and mesh black eyes like television speakers.

'Ah! Look at you!' he said in wonder. Rose curiously walked over, wondering what had caused such a surprized and almost mournful reaction from him. Craig was already next to him, and he just continued looking at it.

'What is it?' she asked curiously

'An old friend of mine... well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old' he frowned.

'What's its name?' Craig asked puzzled.

'It's a Cyberman, well… they were originally called Mondasians, but they were dying out, and so in order to survive they replaced most of their bodies with Cybernetic parts. And then they did the worst thing they possible could, they removed all of their emotions' he said sadly.

'But what does that do?' Rose asked curiously and nervously at the same time.

'It makes it so they don't care, show no pity, no mercy, they're all but dead inside, and they're gone now' he said mournfully.

'So is that where the signal's emitting from?' Craig asked, trying to change the subject.

'Nah, it's stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out. Calling for help' he said gently, as he places his hand on the glass softly. The instant his hand made contact, an alarm started blaring loudly, and Craig slapped a hand to his forehead, what idiot touches an exhibit in a museum he thought silently, but let out a quiet sigh of disbelieve. Within seconds, the room was flooded with men, all dressed in black uniforms and helmets, their guns all pointed at the trio.

'If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A' Rose said calmly. The Doctor flashed one of the men a wide grin. Instantly, the soldiers all took of the safeties on their guns.

'Fantastic' Rose and Craig both muttered angrily, whilst the Doctor looked down at the ground, a guilty expression on his face.

…

The three of them were directed by guns into an office. A large painting in pale blues, greys, and creams of a man in a black coat in front of several buildings hung proudly on the back wall. Two American flags were stationed on either side of it. The large wooden desk was highly polished and mahogany, and on the floor was a large pure white bear like rug, like the poor animal had been hunted, which sadly it probably had. A high tech television and computer were also giveaways to the fact that whoever owned this office certainly had no money worries.

'Attention all personal, BAD WOLF ONE descending, repeat BAD WOLF ONE descending' a man's voice said over the speaker system. It was clearly referring to a landing helicopter.

'For god's sake, ENOUGH' Craig yelled to the heavens. He was so sick of this, if this BAD WOLF was going to show its face it better do it soon and stop stalking the blonde with its name, it was really getting on his nerves. It was scaring him and he wanted it over.

'What' the Doctor questioned, fearing for his friend's sanity. Rose was giving him a concerned look.

'Those words, BAD WOLF…' Craig started to explain, before he was cut off as a man in a purple and gold stripy shirt under a black suit jacket briskly strutted in. he had shortly cropped hair, dark brown in colour, and a matching moustache. His trousers were smart black ones, and his shoes were shining with polish. It was the man in the painting. He walked into his office and sat in the grand chair behind his desk. Several soldiers were clearly guarding him, and he was accompanied by a handsome young lad in jeans and a purple shirt with neatly combed black hair, his eyes were dark brown, and a tall woman in a black business suit jacket and shirt, with blondish brown frizzy hair tied back, an air of seniority surrounding her.

They stood silently, waiting for someone to say something, but the younger man stepped forwards, and handed the boss like man a metal like shell, its shape like a curved triangle. It had thin tubes of metal surrounding it.

'And this is the last... paid $800,000 for it' he spoke softly, his accent English. Their eyebrows all shot up, why would anybody pay that much for a small lump of metal.

'What does it do?' he asked, taking it from the younger man.

Well you see, the tubes on the side must be to channel something, I think maybe fuel…' he attempted to explain. Rose saw the Doctor shake his head in disbelief, no doubt at his ignorance; she knew the guy must be wrong.

'I really wouldn't hold it like that' he advised

'Shut it' the woman snapped. Craig looked at her ID card, her name read Diana Goddard. She fixed them with a cold glare.

'Really, though, that's wrong' the Doctor persisted.

'Is it dangerous?' the younger man asked nervously.

'No. Just looks silly' the Doctor said as he leaned forward to take the thing from the boss man. The soldiers all clicked their guns, and he froze. The boss held up a hand to signal them it was alright, before he handed the thing to the Doctor.

'You just need to be…' he trailed off as he gently ran his fingers over the thing. It let out a small haunting sound, like a musical note. It was beautiful.

'…delicate' he finished with a grin. Everyone, even Goddard looked reasonably impressed by him, and Rose could practically see his ego growing as he beamed at the all as he continued playing it.

'It's a musical instrument' Craig realised with a grin.

'And it's a long way from home' the Doctor stated with a nod.

'Here, let me' the boss said, snatching it out of the Doctor's hand impatiently, causing him to raise his eyebrows slightly.

'I did say 'delicate'. Reacts to the smallest fingerprint' the Doctor pointed out. The man tried but could not get it to play; it only made a series of beeping noises. He frowned in frustration.

'It needs precision' the Doctor continued. The man tried again, touching it more gently and he managed to get it to play a few notes. The Doctor grinned happily.

'Very good. Quite the expert' he praised, and Craig's mouth nearly dropped open, it was pretty rare for him to compliment a human, let alone one with the swagger of the man before them.

'As are you' the man said with a carefully fixed smile. He suddenly tossed the instrument aside, clearly bore with it, and it tumbled somewhere on the floor. Their eyes all followed its path, slightly alarmed by his turn of interest.

'Who exactly are you?' he demanded. Their eyes went back to the man, the Doctor held a slightly disapproving look, and Craig and Rose's held dislike. This man was trouble, that was plain to see. Trouble, and powerful, not a good mix.

'I'm the Doctor. And who are you?' he replied.

'Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world and you just stumbled in by mistake' the man scoffed.

'Pretty much sums him up in a sentence, well done on that by the way' Craig smirked when the Doctor playfully rolled his eyes at him.

'The question is; how did you get in? 53 floors down. With your little cat burglar accomplices' he said huskily as his eyes landed on Rose. She looked angry, and Craig's arms stiffened slightly. He wasn't what you'd call over the top when it came to being protective with men around Rose, but this man wouldn't get within twenty feet of her that way if he had anything to do with it.

'Quite a collector yourself, she's rather pretty' he said, turning back to the Doctor. That angered Rose even more, how dare he talk about her like some kind of object!

'She's gonna smack you if you keep calling her 'she'!' she fumed.

'She's English too!' he commented, his eyes still on the Doctor. He clearly hadn't paid any attention to what she had actually said.

'Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy, got you a girlfriend… and a little mate, although judging by his hair colour choice, he's probably a fag so I'd watch out' he grinned wickedly. Craig's eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared.

'What did you just call me?!' he yelled. He had had plenty of that on the estate until he'd smack a guy so hard it broke his nose. Luckily the guy had kept quiet, but soon everyone on the estate had learnt not to mess with him, or anybody he went out with. He was about to step forward and smack that smirk off his face, but the Doctor put a calming hand on his shoulder, stopping him from moving. He settled for just growling and glaring daggers at the man, for the moment.

'This is Mr Henry Van Statten' the younger man said, trying to change the subject a little.

'And who's he when he's at home?' Rose coldly demanded. It was clear that she greatly disliked this man also. Nobody insulted her brother like that and didn't pay the price.

'Mr Van Statten owns the Internet' he replied like it was obvious.

'Don't be stupid, no one owns the Internet' Craig scoffed.

'And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?' Van Statten said smugly.

'So you're an expert on just about everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up' the Doctor stated, slightly perturbed. This man was a know-nothing-know-it-all, and worse than that, he'd insulted his friends, he'd be sure to get him back for that, Rose and Craig were worth a hundred of him.

'And you claim greater knowledge?' Van Statten challenged.

'I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am' the Doctor bragged. Normally Craig would have told him off, but next to this man, he decided to let the Doctor let him have it.

'And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?' he demanded in a smug voice.

'You tell me' the Doctor shot back.

'The cage contains my one living specimen' Van Statten stated.

'And what's that?' the Doctor wanted to know. It was possible, in fact probable, that this living thing was the cause of the signal that had brought them here.

'Like you don't know' Van Statten grinned.

'Show me' the Doctor demanded.

'You wanna see it?' Van Statten dared.

'Blimey, you can smell the testosterone' Rose put in. Craig, the Doctor, and even Goddard let out a light chuckle.

'Goddard… inform the Cage. We're heading down' he said to her, and with a nod, she exited the room.

'You, English. Look after the girl. Canoodle or spoon, or whatever it is you British do' he shot at the young man who nodded. Rose glanced at him and smiled slightly.

'Tell you what Adam boy, I'll do you a favour and save you from the little princess here, he can come with me and the Doctor with no name' he grinned. Craig clenched his fist, he so wanted to hit that man. To whack that _stupid_ moustache right of his face.

'Come and see my pet' he grinned at them both as he led them from the room. Outside, they went to the right, whilst Rose and the other man, Adam, went left, what either of them were going to see in this place remained a total mystery, but they shared one thing in common in that moment, they all had a bad feeling about this.

**...**

**And there it is! Really just an intro to the episode, but it will change around a bit in the upcoming chapters, with a little spoiler in the next one, but I'm not saying ; ) Hope you like and as always, please review, oh and thanks for the amount I got for the last chapter, people seemed to like my Dark Doctor, so I might have to bring the darkness out in him again some time, we'll see : )**


	42. Dalek, The Last Survivor

**Hey Readers! Loved the amount of reviews for the last chapter so thanks to all those that did and keep them coming : ) So here's the next part of Dalek, hope you enjoy. Not much else to say other than that Doctor Who isn't mine, but Craig Tyler is. Enjoy : )**

**...**

**Dalek – The Last Survivor**

Van Statten had led the Doctor through the winding corridors, past many closed doors, until they came to a sort of laboratory area, but it also looked like it was hardly used, with dingy walls and less impressive computers than the one in his office. Several guards and people in lab coats were busy working, and at the far end stood a large metal circular door, it was firmly closed.

'We've tried everything. The creatures has… shielded itself but there's definite signs of life inside' he stated, whilst at the same time he entered a code into the number pad on the wall near the door. It slid open, allowing them inside.

'Inside? Inside what?' the Doctor asked in puzzlement. Craig carefully watched his reaction .

'Welcome back, sir. I've had to take the power down, the Metaltron is resting' a dark haired man in an orange hazard suit said. His eyes held coldness yet excitement, it was clear that this man enjoyed inflicting pain on others. Craig tried not to shiver as he looked at him.

'Metaltron?' the Doctor asked in confusion, what the hell was a 'Metaltron'?

'Thought of it myself. Good, isn't it? Although I'd much to prefer to find out its real name' Van Statten stated with a smug grin.

'Here, you'd better put these on' The man, whose name card showed his name was Simmons, said as he offered the Doctor a thick pair of black gloves.

'The last guy that touched it… burst into flames' he grinned manically, as if this was a good thing.

'I won't touch it then' the Doctor countered, and behind them Goddard smirked.

'Go ahead, Doctor. Impress me' Van Statten challenged. Goddard glanced at the pair of them, and with a placid expression across his face, the Doctor entered the cage. Craig drew in a slightly nervous breath before he followed him inside. The door clanged shut behind them.

The room was entirely pitch black, it was difficult to see anything. The Doctor looked at a trolley, filled with several instruments such as drill and saws. They were clearly being used for torture of the creature. Craig couldn't see what it looked like, only a small blue light at about eye level in the distance, that was the only giveaway to the creatures' location within the room.

'Look, I'm sorry about this. Mr Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Doctor' the Doctor said softly and honestly. Craig silently hovered at his side, he knew it was best to let the Doctor handle one this alone.

'Doc-tor' an electronic voice croaked.

'Impossible' the Doctor gasped in such terror it made Craig's heart freeze, he had never seen the Doctor so afraid before, it terrified him.

'THE Doctor?' the voice demanded, enraged.

The Doctor watched, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. Craig looked on in fear as the lights suddenly come on, illuminating the prisoner. It was a great dome like creature, like a great big pepper pot. It was a sort of bronze colour and made of metal, but it was rusty all over. Where the arms would be was a plunder like device and a sort of whisk like gun for the other. It was covered in sort of spherical bumps, and it had a metal eye stork, the place where the eye would be was casting the blue light. It was wrapped in chains and held in place firmly.

'Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!' it chanted loudly. The Doctor grabbed Craig and forced him behind him, shielding him as he banged on the door. He knew what that was, it haunted his nightmares, but he had to protect Craig at all costs.

'Let us out!' he begged loudly.

'Exterminate!' it cried again. Craig gasped, it was going to kill them both, there and then, and the Doctor was trying to shield him. He felt his affection and respect flare even brighter than ever for his best friend.

'You are an enemy of the Daleks! You must be destroyed!' it cried. Dalek? So that was what it was called Craig realised. It looked harmless, but judging by the Doctor's reaction to it, he was definitely wrong and he knew it.

It waved its whisk like gun around, clearly trying to fire at them, but it seemed too be broken like the rest of it, it was helpless. The Doctor stopped looking terrified and his face broke into a huge grin. Craig just stared at him blankly, somewhat confused by his sudden change of emotion.

'It's not working!' the Doctor realised.

The Dalek's eyepiece lowered slightly to look down at its gun. The Doctor laughed manically. Craig still couldn't see what was so funny.

'Fantastic! Oh, fantastic! Powerless! Look at you. The Great Space Dustbin. How does it feel?' he demanded.

He lunged at the Dalek. The Dalek strained against its chains, whilst Craig stayed towards the back of the cell.

'Keep back!' the Dalek ordered in a frenzied tone of voice.

'What for? What're you going to do to me?' he demanded smugly. The Dalek had no reply, and neither did Craig.

'If you can't kill… then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you?' he demanded, taunting the Dalek as he began circling around it. The Dalek followed his progress, keeping him insight by revolving its head, looking with its eyepiece at him.

'You're nothing' he spat harshly. Craig frowned, what had these creatures done to upset him so?

'What the hell are you here for?' he demanded furiously. Craig hated seeing him like this, but he was too interested to voice his opinion. He remained silent, watching the conversation intently.

'I am waiting for orders' the Dalek finally replied.

'What does that mean?' the Doctor asked, almost mockingly.

'I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders' was the electronic reply.

'Well you're never gonna get any. Not ever' the Doctor almost grinned, clearly enjoying taunting this creature.

'I demand orders!' the Dalek screeched.

'They're never gonna come! Your race is dead! You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire, the entire Dalek race wiped out in one second' the Doctor beamed. Craig looked horrified at him, but that didn't wipe the grin off his face. He couldn't believe his friend could be so cold, but he also couldn't believe he wouldn't have a good reason, and that was something he was going to demand to know soon enough.

'You lie!' the Dalek cried in, fear?

'I watched it happen. I MADE it happen!' he bragged.

'You destroyed us?' the Dalek demanded, and the Doctor's expression changed dramatically. His face fell into a frown, his eyes at the ground, not wanting to look Craig in the eye.

'I had no choice' he said quietly and guiltily, his back to the Dalek.

'And what of the Time Lords?' the Dalek demanded and Craig gasped as realisation hit him. The Doctor had told him his people had all perished in a war, the Time War, fighting a race of creatures that were born to destroy. The Doctor's reaction only backed up his theory that the Daleks were these creatures, and by the sounds of it, this was the last Dalek in existence, they were the final two.

'Dead. They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost' the Doctor replied mournfully. Craig remained silent, but held his hand lightly, trying to offer him some silent comfort, the Doctor smiled ever so slightly at him

'And the coward survived' the Dalek was now the one taunting.

'Oh, and I caught your little signal… help me… poor little thing…' the Doctor said in a mockingly sweet tone before it returned to the saddened one.

'But there's no one else coming 'cos there's no one else left' he whispered.

'I am alone in the Universe' the Dalek croaked.

'Yep' the Doctor said with the smallest of smiles.

'So are you' it pointed out, and the Doctor's smiled instantly faded.

'We are the same' it stated. The Doctor whirled on the spot, nearly knocking Craig over as he glared at the Dalek angrily.

'We're not the same, I'm not…' he began with a yell before he stopped, apparently lost in a sudden thought.

'No, wait. Maybe we are. You're right, yeah, okay. You've got a point. 'Cos I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve' he said as he raised his eyebrows, his taunting grin returned to his lips.

'Exterminate' he said simply. He pulled a lever down on the control panel near the computer in the room manically. The Dalek was immediately engulfed by crackling blue electricity. It began to scream in agony. Craig gasped in horror.

'Have pity!' it pleaded.

'Why should I? You never did' the Doctor spat as he turned up the power, making it even worse for the Dalek. Craig hurried to his side.

'Doctor, please, please stop it' he begged. The Doctor turned to face the blonde, a look of shock on his face, he seemed surprized that Craig was even there, the look of horror on his face, and even more so by his own actions.

'Help me!' the Dalek begged. Security suddenly burst into the cage and grabbed the Doctor before he could even move. Craig was about to protest on his behalf when he too was grabbed by two guards. They were both dragged from the cage until the Dalek was out of sight.

'I saved your life, now talk to me! Goddamn it, talk to me!' they heard Van Statten shout, presumably at the Dalek.

'You've got to destroy it!' the Doctor shouted as they were dragged away. Craig couldn't even speak; he was so confused and horrified by what he had just witnessed, his best friend, so cold and hate filled. He remained silent as he was dragged out, without even putting up a fight.

…

Adam had taken Rose into his workshop. It was a small room, lined with dark grey stackers, all holding various strange items, some like guns, others like chunks of metal, and some were like rocks. They were all clearly the alien things to be catalogued. Rose was looking around in interest.

'Sorry about the mess. Mr Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing. So long as I deliver the goods…' Adam explained, whilst Rose prodded several things on the shelves.

'What do you think… that is?' he asked, holding out a large broken piece of strange metal. She took it and pretended to look deep in thought for a few seconds.

'Err… a lump of metal?' she suggested, a light smirk gracing her features. She couldn't help it, Adam was just so cute, like a little puppy dog, she just wanted to tease him.

'Yeah. Yeah, but I think… well, I'm almost certain… it's from the hull of a spacecraft' he said mystically. Rose carefully placed it back on the shelf Adam had taken it from.

'The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet… spacecrafts… aliens… visitors to Earth… they really exist' he stated happily.

'That's amazing' she pretended to be impressed, no need to let him know that she travelled around time and space in a police box, yet.

'I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe that the whole universe is teeming with life' he said, clearly lost in thought.

'I'm gob-smacked, yeah. And you do what? Sit here and catalogue it?' she asked curiously.

'Best job in the world' he grinned down at her.

'Imagine if you could get out there. Travel amongst the stars and see it for real' she said enticingly.

'Yeah… I'd give anything. But I don't think it's ever gonna happen, not in our lifetimes' he shrugged it off.

'Oh, you never know… what about all those people who say they've been inside spaceships and things and talked to aliens?' she asked with raised eyebrows.

'I think they're nutters.' He scoffed at her.

'Yeah, me too' she giggled and they both broke into laughter.

'So, how'd you end up here?' she asked interestedly.

'Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit' he shrugged nonchalantly.

'Ah, right, you're a genius' she scoffed, the men in this place could serious give the Doctor a run for his money for having the largest ego possible.

'Sorry, but yeah… can't help it, I was born clever' he shrugged with a grin. Rose smiled up at him, he was so adorable he'd make a box of puppy's sick.

'When I was eight, I logged onto the US Defence System, nearly caused World War Three' he laughed.

'What, and that's funny is it?' Rose teasingly asked with raised eyebrows.

'Well you should've been there! Just to see them running about! Fantastic!' he beamed, and Rose smiled at the word. She and Craig had both been using that word a heck of a lot more than they used to, all because of the Doctor.

'You sound like the Doctor' she smiled.

'Are you and him…?' he asked quietly.

'No, we're just friends' she replied very quickly. Almost too quickly she thought to herself, but no… she couldn't be falling for him…could she?

'Good' Adam nodded. She smiled again, this time a little bit more shyly.

'Why's it good?' she asked slightly flirtatiously.

'Just is' he smiled widely. There was a pause as they both stared into each other's eyes. Rose noticed he had rather gorgeous brown eyes. she couldn't know that was exactly what he thought about her's.

'So… wouldn't you rather be downstairs? I mean, you've got these bits of metal and stuff, but Mr Van Statten's got a living creature down there' she remembered.

'Yeah… yeah well I did ask but he keeps it to himself. Although, if you're a genius, it does take long to patch in on the Comms system.

'Let's have a look then' she laughed. Adam turned to his computer and tapped away on the keys for a few moments as Rose observed from over his shoulder curiously.

'It doesn't do much - the alien. It's weird, it's kind of... useless, it's just like this... great big pepper pot' he vaguely described just as the screen flared into life. They watched as a man took a sort of drill towards a large rusty bronze dome-headed metal creature. It began to scream as the man tried to open it.

'It's being tortured! Where's the Doctor? Where's Craig?' she cried in alarm. This was sick and awful. How could they do that, even if it was an alien. Oh she knew that that Van Statten was trouble but she didn't imagine this!

'I don't know' Adam said sounding scared.

'Take me down there. Now' she commanded before striding from the room, Adam following close behind. She'd put a stop to this, make no doubt!

…

Security had pushed the Doctor and Craig into a lift before Van Statten and Goddard briskly step in. they both turned to face the two, mainly looking at the Doctor. Craig was still in shock, he'd never seen that side of the Doctor before, the darker side, just how well did he really know his best friend?

'What is a Dalek, what's it made from metal for?' Van Statten demanded to know in his most commanding voice. Craig had to mentally stop himself from slapping that idiot, he was so full of himself!

'The metal's just battle armour, the real Dalek creature's inside' the Doctor explained lowly.

'What does it look like?' Van Statten asked curiously.

'A nightmare. It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered, every single emotion was removed except hate' the Doctor almost growled, but softened slightly as Craig placed a hand on his arm.

'Genetically engineered… by whom?' Van Statten pressed, sounding almost impressed. Once again Craig had to stop himself, this time for pointing out that this was not a game, but then he realised that to Van Statten it most likely was.

'By a genius, Van Statten. By a man who was king of his own little world… you'd like him' the Doctor drily commented and Craig let out a snort of amusement.

'It's been on Earth for over fifty years, sold at a private auction moving from one collection to another. Why would it be a threat now?' Goddard spoke up for the first time since entering the lift.

'Because I'm here. How did it get to Earth? Does anyone know?' the Doctor asked urgently.

'Records say it came from the sky like a meteorite. It fell to Earth on the Ascension Islands, burnt in its crater for nearly three days before anybody could get near it and all that time it was screaming. It must've gone insane' Goddard sadly explained and Craig felt a wave of pity for the tortured captive.

'Must've fallen through time. The only survivor' the Doctor realised.

'It's from the war isn't it, with your people?' Craig asked softly, and the Doctor looked him in the eye before giving the tiniest of nods.

'What War?' Goddard asked intrigued.

'The Time War. The final battle between my people and the Dalek race' the Doctor said, sounding lost in devastating memories.

'But you survived too' Van Statten observed.

'Not by choice' the Doctor murmured.

'Don't say that' Craig whispered to him, and the Doctor shot him an apologetic look. Craig hated it when the Time War came up, the Doctor always looked so broken because of it.

'And you?' Van Statten turned to Craig.

'Human, as is Rose' he said coldly. Van Statten nodded in satisfaction, turning back to the Doctor.

'This means that the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth, Doctor, there's you. The only one of your kind in existence' he grinned smugly, and both the Doctor and Craig's bodies stiffened, this was so not good.

…

Craig struggled as hard as he could against the hand cuffs keeping him tied to a large metal pillar, trying desperately to get to the Doctor. Van Statten had ordered the guards to chain the Doctor in front of 'The Scanner' and that's exactly what they did. They dragged them into a dark room, barely lit, and had chained the Doctor spread arms against a rack, striping his torso bare. Craig had been handcuffed to the side, made to watch.

Van Statten was standing near a sort of boxy gun like object, it was aimed at the Doctor. It was plugged into an off-side screen.

'Now, smile!' he grinned that awfully smug grin of his. A red beam of light came out of the end and ran across the Doctor's torso. He moaned and thrashed in pain, his face contorting into a grimace. The screen came up with an image of two hearts joined together, beating away in rhythm with each other.

'Stop it, leave him alone!' Craig cried in horror as the beam stopped, but Van Statten ignored him completely.

'Two hearts! Binary vascular system! Oh, I am so going to patent this' he grinned.

'So that's your secret. You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it' the Doctor said weakly.

'This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries. All it took was the right mind to use it properly. Oh, the advances I've made from alien junk, you have no idea, Doctor. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian Crater, and do you know what they found?' he asked almost mockingly. The Doctor just looked at him in anger but also questioningly.

'The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory of course, no need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?' he smiled smugly.

'Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten? A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species… that creature in your dungeon is better than you' the Doctor sneered.

'Mind you, that's not too hard to achieve' Craig taunted. Van Statten's face seemed to flash with anger before his calm exterior returned.

'Is that so, well in that case I will be true to myself and continue' he grinned, turning the scanner towards Craig. The blonde's eyes widened as he fired, and the red beam ran over him. He screamed as if every cell in his chest was on fire.

'Don't you hurt him, don't you dare touch him' the Doctor yelled, but Van Statten wasn't listening, his face set in a frown.

'What the hell are you?' he demanded of Craig, who blinked in shock.

'I'm human' he shrugged.

'No no no, you see, there's something else in your DNA, a sort of energy that's changing you, or will change you, you're mutating' he read off the screen.

'But, how's that possible, into what?' Craig asked fearfully as the Doctor frowned, deep in thought. How the hell could Craig's DNA be changing, there were several ways this was possible, but he'd know, he'd have seen. Unless it happened sometime in the future, but why would it ripple back through time?

'Tell me, tell me what's happening to him' the Doctor demanded.

'What's in my DNA?' Craig asked fearfully.

'No idea, but right now I'm much more interested in old Two Hearts' he commented, turning the scanner so it was facing the Doctor again.

'Listen to me, that thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!' he cried frantically.

'Nothing can escape the Cage' Van Statten sneered in reply as he activated the scan again, and the Doctor writhed in agony.

'But it's woken up! It knows I'm here! It's gonna get out! Van Statten, I swear no one on this base is safe! No one on this planet!' the Doctor cried, but it was no good, Van Statten ran the scan again. The Doctor groaned in pain and threw his head back as he was tortured, as Craig let out a despairing gasp, unable to see a way out this time.

…

Adam nervously entered the lobby outside the cage, a determined looking Rose charging onwards right next to him. As they approached, the head of security, a man with bright eyes and sandy coloured hair in a black uniform and cap, who's ID read his surname as Bywater stopped them.

'Hold it right there!' he ordered, but Adam just got out his ID and flashed it in the guy's face.

'Level three access. Special clearance from Mr Van Statten' he told Bywater, before they strode on, past Simmons and into the cage. Rose looked around at the dingy room before her eyes landed on the large bronze pepper-pot like creature in chains. She went to move forwards.

'Don't get too close' Adam warned her as she slowly got closer to the creature. She peered into the eyepiece, and even though it was just a blue light, she could tell that it was watching her.

'Hello?' she whispered to it, and the eyepiece twitched ever so slightly.

'Are you in pain? My name's Rose Tyler. I've got a friend, he can help. He's called the Doctor. What's your name?' she asked, concern lining her tone. For a few moments there was silence, before it replied.

'Yes' it replied, not making any sense since she had asked the creature's name.

'What?' she asked in quiet confusion.

'I am in pain. They tortured me. But still they fear me. Do you fear me?' it asked tiredly and wearily.

'No' she whispered, and the creature's eyepiece lowered again, almost mournfully.

'I am dying' it stated softly.

'No, we can help!' she argued, she would help this poor creature, the Doctor would help when he found out. At least that was what she thought.

'I welcome death. But I am glad… that before I die… I met a human who was not afraid' it whispered sadly. Rose felt like she was about to be overwhelmed with sadness and pity for the creature. She wanted to help so much, she just didn't know how!

'Isn't there anything I can do?' she asked in an almost pleading tone.

'My race is dead. I shall die alone' it replied and Rose felt tear come to her eyes at it's almost dead tone. She wanted to comfort the poor thing, so she slowly brought her hand up and rested it on the dome-shaped head.

'Rose, no!' Adam cried, but it was too late. The place where her hand had been was burning a bright orange as she snatched her hand away from the heat, looking shocked between her hand and the orange print on the creature.

'Genetic material extrapolated… initiate cellular reconstruction!' it cried in a harsher tone of voice. It seemed to had a new burst of energy as it effortlessly burst out of its chains and sparked flew from the pillars holding it in place. Simmons came walking briskly into the room, instruction in hand, and he was not looking happy at all.

'What the hell have you done?' he yelled at them as he turned to face the creature, who had its sucker pointed at him.

'Whatcha gonna do? Sucker me to death?' he sneered, before yelling as the creature did exactly that. The sucker had covered his face and Rose paled as she heard a crunching noise, the noise of Simmons' skull shattering as it was pulled in on itself. Simmons fell to his knees as Rose and Adam fled back to the lobby.

'It's killing him! Do something!' she cried at Bywater, who immediately rushed to the Intercom system. She felt terrible, she had caused this, if only the Doctor had been there, he'd have stopped it, where the hell was he and Craig anyway?!

...

'Condition red! Repeat, condition red! This is not a drill!' the voice of Bywater cried over the Intercom system. Van Statten looked around in shock as the Doctor weakly raised his head.

'Release us if you want to live' he said wearily.

'Let them out' Van Statten swiftly ordered, and a moment later Craig was being unhandcuffed as the Doctor was let down. He quickly pulled his shirt and jumper back on before wrapping Craig up in a big hug.

'In your own time' Van Statten spat at them and the broke apart, running from the room, up the corridor, and into Van Statten's office. The Doctor and Craig both rushed over to the computer monitor which had a live link to the lobby area outside the cage. Van Statten, Goddard, and several security guards had followed them into the room.

'You've got to keep it in that cell' the Doctor swiftly commented. They both let out a sigh of relieve at the sight of Rose and Bywater on the screen.

'Doctor, it's all my fault' she cried at them, and they both frowned slightly, what was her fault?

'I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations' Bywater said calmly.

'The Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat' the Doctor shook his head.

'Rose get out of there' Craig cried. He watched as the guards in the room kept moving across the screen, taking positions with their guns held high, all aimed at the entrance to the cage. Rose stood near Adam, their backs to the screen as they too watched. After a few tense seconds, the door opened, and the Dalek came rolling out.

'Open fire!' Bywater yelled, and they all began to shoot at the Dalek, but it was no good, their bullets seemed to just bounce straight off, without even leaving a scratch.

'Don't shoot it, I want it unharmed!' Van Statten protested.

'You've got to be kidding' Craig snapped at him. That man was a complete and utter idiot!

'Rose, get out of there!' the Doctor called as the Dalek on the screen got closer to her. Bywater turned to a female guard, who appeared to be quite short with blondish red her and calm eyes. she too was in a black uniform and holding a gun.

'De Maggio, take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job, got that?' he ordered his agent.

'You… with me' she said to Rose and Adam, and a moment later they had moved out of the shot of the screen. Bywater and the other guards moved back slightly and kept firing but to no avail. The Dalek approached the screen and the four of them watched as it raised its sucker, before the screen turned blank. It had clearly smashed the screen.

'Abandoning the cage, sir' Bywater's voice came over the coms.

'What's it doing?' Craig asked before Van Statten could reply.

'It's rejuvenating itself, it looked different, more shiny and brand new' Bywater explained before the line went dead, turning to static. They all looked at the radio in wonder, before looking up at the light as it flickered and darkened. The computer screen began to fade too.

Goddard immediately began tapping into its keyboard as The Doctor, Craig, and Van Statten all watcher over her shoulder. she had brought up a darkened map of the United States, some of them lit up in red.

'We're losing power. It's draining the base. Oh, my God. It's raiding entire power supplies for the whole of Utah' she informed them.

'It's downloading' the Doctor said solemnly. It was starting.

'Downloading what?' Craig asked nervously.

'Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down' Goddard cried in alarm.

'It's not just energy. That Dalek just absorbed the entire Internet. It knows everything' the Doctor said softly and Craig gasped slightly, this was so not good. It knew everything about the planet, and was worse than Hitler when it came to racial cleansing, and they'd just let it loose, so not fantastic!

**...**

**And there it is! So, what's up with Craig I wonder, well I'm not saying, but I am curious as to if anyone can guess it, so I'd appreciate your guesses in reviews ; ) So, other than that I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, read of faithful readers! : )**


	43. Dalek, Running from the Nightmare

**Hello! So here's part three, and soon I've have 'Dalek' done too! Yay! So this is mainly about Rose running through the base trying to get away. Oh, and thanks so much for all the reviews for the last chapter, but so far nobody's really guessed that closely to what's happening to Craig, oh well, in time more clues shall reveal themselves ... : ) Other than that know that Doctor Who is not owned by me, but Craig Tyler is, enjoy!**

**...**

**Dalek – Running from the Nightmare**

Craig was scared, if that Dalek was as bad as the Doctor was making out, and he hoped to hell it wasn't but he had a feeling it was, than a massacre was about to happen, and his baby sister was caught up in the middle of it. Their lack of sight of the Dalek was setting him on edge, they know practically nothing of its movements right now, and Goddard's first comment confirmed that fact.

'Sir, the cameras in the vault have gone down' she said worriedly.

'We've only got emergency power, it's eaten everything else, you've got to kill it now!' the Doctor replied with a finality which left no room for argument. She nodded and turned to the intercom system.

'All guards to converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately' she cried, and an alarm in the distance could be heard blaring. Craig only hoped that Rose would get back to him soon; he'd feel safer with the three of them together. He prayed that the Dalek was at least held up before it got near her.

…

Rose and Adam were running as fast as they could through a swarm of guards heading in the opposite direction, towards the cage. De Maggio was leading them away.

'Civilians! Let them through!' she called to them as said civilians darted around a corner. As they went Rose could clearly hear the sound of clicking, the safeties were off the guns. The guards had clearly taken a defensive position of some sort but she didn't have time to go back and see, she had to get to the Doctor and Craig, now!

'Cover the north wall: Red division, maintain suppressing fire along the perimeter, Blue Division hold' the voice of Bywater yelled, but it was getting further and further away, but what Rose had next made her stomach crawl. It was a sort of electrical buzzing noise, and Bywater cried out in pain, before the sound of something heavy hitting the ground could be heard. she knew, without having to turn back, that the poor man was dead.

They were further away now, and the sounds of rapid gunshots could be heard, and all the time the only thought in her mind was that this was her fault, if she hadn't of touched it, none of this would be happening.

As they reached the end of the corridor, the last sounds of the firing stopped. For the last few seconds, that same buzzing noise and the yells of pain before the crumpling of bodies was the now that had filled the air, not there was just an eerie silence. The silence she had caused.

…

'Tell them to stop shooting at it!' Van Statten yelled as the guards all fired at the Dalek.

'You've got to be kidding you idiot' Craig snarled at him. That man was so cold and crude it was despicable and disgusting. His hatred for the man increased ten-fold.

'It's killing them!' Goddard cried in protest. It was clear she was as affected by the man's comments as Craig was.

'They're dispensable, that Dalek is unique' he shot back.

'You arrogant bastard' Craig spat at him venomously, and if looks could kill, Craig would be in prison for murder right about now. Van Statten just huffed and turned to the intercom system.

'I don't want a scratch on its body work? Do you hear me? Do you hear me?' he yelled at the guards through it, but the gunshots were already fading into silence, but not by his hand, but the Dalek's.

'The guards won't be able to stop it, have you got a map of this place' the Doctor said after a few moments of stunned silence, turning to Goddard. Van Statten might be foul but he could tell she at least had an intelligent mind and was willing to help him do what was right.

'Sure thing, let me just…bring…it…up' she trailed off, madly clicking keys on the keyboard before a black screen came up, and on it in pale blue 3D lines were rectangles which represented the rooms and corridors of the complex they were in. a white dot was moving slowly up one of them, it clearly represented the Dalek.

'That's us right below the surface. That's the cage, and that's the Dalek' Goddard pointed them out to the Doctor in turn.

'This museum of yours, have you got any alien weapons?' he asked curiously. Nothing human at this point would work easily on the Dalek, but something alien might do the trick.

'Lots of them, but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them' Goddard sighed.

'We've got to keep that thing alive. We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there' Van Statten heavily suggested.

'How much is the Dalek worth now you blithering idiot? Rose is still down with that thing, my little sister, so we're not sealing anything until she's out, you got that?!' Craig glared at them all, daring anyone to counter him. None of them did. Instead the Doctor turned back to the map.

'It's got to go through this area. What's that?' the Doctor realised as he pointed to a small room in the Dalek's path.

'Weapons testing' Goddard replied after looking closer at the room he was pointing at.

'Give guns to the lawyers, technicians, anyone. Everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it' he told her, and with a nod she vacated her seat and hurried out of them room to organise it. The Doctor took her place in front of the computer, whilst Craig looked over his shoulder.

'Come on Rose, just come on' he whispered quietly, willing his baby sister to hear him.

…

Rose was still running as fast she could when she was forced to stop at the foot of a set of white stairs lined with cold grey walls and black banister.

'Stairs! That's more like it!' she cried as realisation hit her, just as Adam came up behind her.

'It hasn't got legs, it's stuck!' she beamed delighted, whilst De Maggio caught up with them.

'It's coming! Get up!' she ordered, and the three of the rushed up them, leaning over the banister to watch as the Dalek reached them, but came to a halt. Both Rose and Adam breathed a small sigh of relief as De Maggio raised her gun, training it on the Dalek's eyepiece, which was looking directly at them.

'Great big alien death machine. Defeated by a flight of stairs' Adam called mockingly down to it.

'Now, listen to me. I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate, then I guarantee that Mr Van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you and maybe that was wrong. But people have died, and that stops. Right now. The killing stops, have you got that?' De Maggio tried, but the Dalek didn't reply, it merely continued watching them intently.

'I demand that you surrender, is that clear?' she repeated more forcefully. There was a short pause before the Dalek responded.

'El-ev-ate' it cried, and moments later it was hovering off the ground, a bright light underneath it keeping it in the air. It began to move up the step.

'Oh my God' Rose whispered in stunned fear. Adam looked absolutely gob-smacked, whilst De Maggio looked determined to do her duty, and that was to get the two next to her out of this safely.

'Adam, get her out of here' she ordered him.

'Come with us, you can't stop it!' Rose leant over and told her in an urgent voice, and for good reason, because if she didn't move that second, she'd surely be dead within ten.

'Someone's got to try. Now get out! Don't look back, just run!' she cried as she pushed them, and with a last look of regret at the brave woman, Rose and Adam fled. They could hear her repeatedly shooting but moments later she screamed in pain, as they hurriedly along the corridor, both of them in complete terror.

…

'I thought you two were the great experts, Doctor' Van Statten shot out the Doctor and Craig as the sounds of the woman with Rose's screams could be heard.

'Excuse me?' Craig snapped. The Doctor maybe, but he hadn't claimed to be any kind of alien expert.

'You're both aliens, you must know about them, if you're so impressive, then why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate, there must be something it needs, everything needs something' he reasoned, and although Craig didn't want to admit it, he had actually made a good point, first time for everything. Then his first comment hit him and he sighed.

'I'm not an alien' he pointed out irritably. But that still bothered him, his DNA was changing, into what though? It made no sense, but then Van Statten had said it could happen in the future, he had a bad feeling about it though. Bad feeling…BAD WOLF! Of course, maybe that was what Bad Wolf was! A warning that he was going to change or that something was going to happen to him!

'What's the nearest town?' the Doctor decided to speak up before Van Statten could reply. He knew Craig could hit hard when he was annoyed or angry, and boy could Van Statten make the male Tyler angry.

'Saltlake City' Van Statten shrugged, he seemed caught off guard by the question, but then again the tone of the conversation had changed pretty quickly.

'Population?' the Doctor pressed.

'One million' he said, his usual bravo back in a beat.

'All dead. If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature, that's all it needs' the Doctor said bluntly and Craig groaned. His baby sister was still down there with this alien psycho.

'But why would it do that?!' Van Statten asked angrily.

'Because it honestly believes they should die. Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose!' the Doctor yelled at him before striding back over to the computer.

'Still not sure you want to shoot it now?' Craig spat at him before returning to the Doctor's side.

'Doctor, they might need a bit of help' he nodded at the intercom.

'Fantastic' the Doctor smiled slightly up at him, before leaning over to the intercom system.

'Now listen up, I'm the Doctor, and I'm the one who knows that Dalek best, so I'd really listen to what I have to say if I were you. The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home but it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through. Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece. That's the weak spot' he explained.

'Thank you, Doctor, but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot. Positions!' a slightly snide voice replied, presumably the commander.

'Oi! He knows what he's talking about and if you wanna live through this you better listen to him' Craig yelled into it. What was this place, the hot-house for all those with an ego through the roof! And where the hell was Rose anyway, how long did it take to get back up there?! He sighed, he just wanted his baby sister back with him.

…

Rose and Adam were still puffing away, running with all their might. She was getting tired now, her feet were killing her, but she knew if she stopped, the Dalek would kill her, and that was motivation enough to keep her going. They came out of a corridor, and into a large square room lined with large high rail balconies. The room was filled with men in suits or black uniforms, all with guns pointed at them. They came to a pause.

'Hold your fire!' a man on the balcony ordered.

'You two, get the hell out of there!' he yelled down at them, and after a moment of shock stillness, the two were pelting across the room, where they reached the outside door, just as the Dalek slowly rolled into view.

They stopped for the briefest of moments, looking at it, and Rose nearly paled as she realised it was staring right at her. as she looked back into the blue light eyepiece, she felt cold inside, it was like something was staring right into her, into her heart and mind.

When she didn't move after a few long seconds, Adam grabbed her hand and in surprize, she looked up at him.

'It was looking at me' she stuttered.

'Yeah, it wants to slaughter us!' he cried, though making a good point, but Rose wasn't having any of it as she pulled her hand away.

'I know! But it was looking right at me' she told him earnestly.

'So? It's just a sort of metal eye thing, it's looking all around!' he said, sounding slightly impatient. It was clear he wanted to get as far away from that Dalek as possible, and soon. Rose softly shook her head.

'I don't know… it's like there's something inside looking at me, like... like it knows me' she whispered as they set off again, and just in time too and the Dalek was on the move again, stopping in the centre of the room.

'On my mark…' she heard the commander say quietly.

'Open fire!' he yelled, and the sounds of many gunshots filled the air once more, but like last time, they were getting further away. Rose was nearly in bits, this had all started with her act of compassion, and that made it all her fault.

…

The Doctor had been trying to think of a way to sort this mess out when Goddard had re-entered the room. She had only been there a few moments before she had something to say.

'We've got vision' she said softly, watching the Television screen on the wall. On it was the Dalek in the centre of the weapons testing area. A few men with guns could be seen scattered around the room, but judging by the spray of bullets, there were more out of sight. The Doctor, Craig, and Van Statten all gathered around her, watching in silence.

'It wants us to see' the Doctor told them in an emotionless voice. He knew what was going to come next, but he didn't need to say it, for he was sure that the humans in the room did too.

They watched as on the screen the Dalek slowly levitated into the air until it was hovering near the ceiling. It fired its exterminator beam at the fire alarm, causing the fire sprinkles to rain water from the ceiling. The men were getting soaked as it practically rained indoors. The bullets kept on going, but they were fading away before they could hit, melting into atoms. The Dalek paid them no attention; instead it fired at the railings, and through the water, the electricity spread to nearly all the men, killing them as they screamed.

The Commander had survived, as had one of the other men, sheltered from the water and therefore out of the electrified water's reach, but sadly not the Dalek's.

'Fall back! Fall back!' he cried, but as they ran away, the Dalek fired again, killing them both instantly.

The silence in the office was like butter, it could be cut through with a knife. Craig's hand was covering his mouth in disbelief whilst the Doctor was looking at the ground, breathing heavily in shock.

'Perhaps it's time for a new strategy, maybe we should consider abandoning this place' Van Statten said in a stunned voice.

'At last!' Craig muttered under his breath. Better late than never!

'Except there's no power to the helipad, sir. We can't get out' Goddard shot out in in quiet fury.

'You said you could seal the vault' the Doctor remembered. He didn't want to do it, not until Rose was at safety, but now the stakes had changed, he couldn't stand back and watch as the Dalek tore through the whole of Earth.

_'I could save the world but lose the both of you' _his words floated back to him. They had both agreed to do what was right by the Earth then, so he would now. Van Statten moved over to the computer.

'It was designed to be a bunker. In the event of nuclear war, steel bulkheads…' he began to explain before Goddard cut him off.

'There's not enough power, those bulkheads are massive' she cried.

'We've got emergency power, we can re-route that to the bulkhead doors' the Doctor shrugged.

'We'd have to bypass the security codes, that would take a computer genius!' she protested, before Van Statten spoke up.

'Good thing you've got me, then' he said smugly. The three of them all turned to him.

'You want to help?' the Doctor seemed surprized.

'I don't want to die, Doctor, simple as that. Nobody knows this software better than me' he began to work.

'Well you better be right Van Statten, you caused all this' Craig hissed at him.

The screen showing the footage of the basement suddenly flashed back into life. The Dalek was still standing in the middle of the open area, and at first only Goddard noticed.

'Sir…' she whispered. The Doctor, Craig, and Van Statten all turned back to the screen.

'I shall speak only to the Doctor' the Dalek cried. The Doctor slowly straightened up, not taking his eyes off the Dalek.

'You're gonna get rusty' he commented.

'I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveller regenerated me' it explained. The Doctor sighed, he should have expected as much.

'What's your next trick?' he asked quietly.

'I have been searching for the Daleks' it stated.

'Yeah, I saw. Downloading the Internet' he asked as he moved around the desk. He was right in front of the screen now, practically face to face. Craig moved next to his side, slipping his hand into the Doctor's, who gave him an almost grateful smile.

'What did you find?' he asked the Dalek.

'I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes' was the reply.

'And?' the Doctor asked, but he already knew the answer.

'Nothing. Where shall I get my orders now?!' it asked in an almost frenzied voice.

'You're just a soldier without commands' the Doctor pointed out.

'Then I shall follow the primary order, the Dalek instinct to destroy! To conquer!' it cried.

'What for? What's the point? Don't you see? It's all gone. Everything you were, everything you stood for' the Doctor said exasperatedly. It was almost like he was willing the Dalek to see sense Craig thought, maybe he didn't hate the Daleks as much as he'd first thought.

'Then what should I do?' the Dalek asked, and if it had a normal voice Craig was sure it would sound choked up right about now.

'All right then. If you want orders... follow this one: kill yourself' the Doctor said simply. Craig wanted to cry out, scream no, but he didn't he couldn't, not after he'd seen what it had done, not with Rose still down there.

'The Daleks must survive!' the Dalek cried.

'The Daleks have failed. Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the Universe of your filth, why don't you just die?' the Doctor roared in a fit of rage, spit flying from his mouth in his hatred. The Dalek, not to mention Craig, were in silence, before it replied.

'You would make a good Dalek' it commented before the screen went blank, the connection severed. The Doctor stared at it in horror, completely dumbstruck. He turned to Craig, his expression that of a broken man.

'Don't listen, that's not true' Craig protested, pulling him into a hug, which the Doctor immediately return, clinging to him almost like a child seeking reassurance.

'Not to break the moment, but that thing's still coming for us!' Van Statten yelled and they broke apart, Craig throwing him the dirtiest look he could muster.

'He's right, we need to stop it' the Doctor said, moving back around to the computer, watching what Van Statten was doing.

'Seal the vaults' he ordered, and they both got busy tapping into the computer as fast as they could.

'I can leech power off the ground defences, feed it to the bulkheads. It's been years since I had to work this fast' Van Statten almost smiled, like this was all a game to him.

'Are you enjoying this?' the Doctor asked in a steely voice.

'Rose! She's still down there' Craig cried, bringing out his mobile, and hurriedly dialling her number, willing her to answer.

…

The strain was getting to Rose now, that was obvious, she was slowing down slightly. The fact that was she was running up stairs didn't help. Suddenly her mobile rang, and puffing she brought it out of her pocket.

'This isn't the best time' was her greeting.

'Rose! Where are you?' Craig asked urgently.

'Level 49' she huffed as she passed a large black '49' on the wall, but she came on going.

'What floor does she have to get too?' she heard him ask someone else, presumably the Doctor. She heard a muffled reply before her brother staring talking again.

'You've got to get up to floor 46, the vault's being shut down, these bulkhead things are sealing everything from floor 46 downwards' he told her.

'Can't you stop them closing?' she asked irritably, she was working hard enough as it was without the idea of being trapped down with thing forever looming over her.

'The Doctor's the one doing it, if he doesn't it'll get out and work its way around the planet, so for god's sake RUN!' he yelled to get his point across.

She didn't reply, instead she chose to focus on his words, and with renewed energy, sprinted as fast as she could. There was no way that she was going to let that Dalek keep her from her big brother, no chance in hell!

…

'Come on Rose, you can do it, come on' Craig was whispering to himself, obviously trying to comfort himself about the situation around him. the Doctor felt terrible, but it had to be done, he was sure that both Rose and Craig could see that, or at least he hoped they would.

'Done it. We've got power to the bulkheads' Van Statten grinned slightly.

'The Dalek's right behind them' Goddard warned.

'Come on Rose, come on little sis' Craig muttered again.

…

Rose and Adam were off the stairwell and on floor 46, they just had to reach the next set of stairs in time and they'd be safe. She was running on nearly empty now, but she kept on pushing.

'We're nearly there; give us two seconds' she cried into her mobile.

…

'Doctor, I can't sustain the power. The whole system is failing' Van Statten told them, almost pleadingly, and Craig realised he couldn't care less about Rose or Adam, his own stinking skin was what was important to him. That man was pond scum and he should be the one running for his life, not his baby sister.

'Doctor, you've got to close the bulkheads' he told him firmly, and the Doctor paused in thought, this was the moment, the second he had to choose. The woman he loved or every other life on earth. With a sigh, he choice the latter, and pressed the enter key.

'No' Craig whimpered as an alarm sounded.

'I'm sorry' he said with genuine regret, attempting to hug Craig in reassurance, but the blonde pushed him away, his face stunned. The Doctor looked down at the ground in guilt and hurt, it wasn't Craig's fault and he knew it, but it still hurt.

…

They could see it, a thick metal door ahead of them. Adam was ahead of her, nearly there, but Rose was falling behind, she couldn't keep the continuous sprinting up much longer, but if she could a little longer, she could make it!

'Come on!' Adam cried back to her. The door was closing fast, nearly shut. Adam was nearly there when he rolled across the ground and managed to slide under it. Rose ran as fast as she could, trying her best, but it was almost fully sealed. Her hand fell upon it as it shut completely. She sighed in regret and horror. She was trapped, and she wasn't going to see her big brother ever again!

…

'The vault is sealed' Van Statten confirmed, and the Doctor leapt to his feet, having retaken his seat when Craig had pushed him back.

'Rose, where are you? Rose, did you make it?' Craig asked, inwardly pleading for the answer to be yes. He felt bad about pushing the Doctor away, but he was sealing the vault on his sister! His best friend trapping his baby sister! But it wasn't his fault; he knew it wasn't his fault.

'Sorry, I was a bit slow' she panted back down the line. Craig let out a frenzied scream of despair, whilst horrid shock spread across the Doctor's face.

'NO! No! no…' Craig started of yelling but coming down to a whimper as his tears began falling. Goddard took him in her arms, hugging him in comfort, and although if his mind wasn't in a total shock he'd appreciate the gesture, it couldn't help. His baby sister was going to die, and he couldn't stop it, he'd failed her!

'See you then, Doctor, Craig' she whispered, and presumably the Dalek was right behind her now but the tone of her voice.

'I love you Craig, remember that, and tell mum I loved her too! And Doctor, it wasn't your fault, remember that, okay! It wasn't your fault' her voice was trembling.

'And you know what? I wouldn't have missed it for the world' she choked out. Craig was shaking his head, refusing to believe what was about to happen was actually happening.

'Exterminate!' the Dalek's voice sounded in the distance.

'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' Craig screamed over it, but the sound of the exterminator ray could be heard with sickening clarity. Craig slammed his phone shut, turning it off, as a stunned silence filled the office. It couldn't be true, it just couldn't. Not his baby sister, not Rose, it just couldn't possibly be true.

**...**

**What a terrible place to stop! Oh well, bit of drama for poor Craig! I'm really being mean to him lately aren't I, I'll try to make it up to him soon though, well, I might if I feel nice ; ) So as always let me know your thoughts by reviewing, and I'll have an update in a couple of days. Carry on reading, my faithful readers!**


	44. Dalek, The End of the Time War

**And here's part four! I hope this lives up to everyone's expections, this is how I saw Craig reacting under the circumstances, so he's lashing out at pretty much everyone, the bad boy ; ) Kind of an emotional rollercoaster for him at the minute, but it seems like people care about his character which is good. Other then that please note that Doctor Who is tragically not owned by myself, but fantastically Craig Tyler is! Read on at your own risk, because the Dalek is climbing its way up...**

**...**

**Dalek – The End of the Time War**

Craig was nearly on the ground now, the Doctor holding him up. His mind was spinning, practically collapsing, he couldn't take it in, there was no way it could actually be true.

'I'm so sorry Craig, I killed her' the Doctor said in blank shock.

'No, no you didn't' Craig croaked out. It wasn't the Doctor's fault, because if it was, that would mean Rose was dead, and that just couldn't be true.

'I'm sorry' Van Statten said softly.

'NOOO! SHUT UP!' Craig screamed, ripping himself out of the shocked Doctor's arms and lunging around the desk. As hard as he possibly could, he slammed his fist into Van Statten's face. He fell back, blood and bruises already forming. He looked up fearfully.

'I said I'd protect her. I promised to take care of her, I swore it! And you're sorry?!' he raged. Suddenly the Doctor was at his side and just as angry.

'I could've stopped it! I could've killed that Dalek in its cell. But you stopped me' he hissed venomously, threateningly. Van Statten looked anxiously between the two of them,

'It was the prize of my collection!' he cried defensively, but it was too late as Craig took another swing at him, but he ducked in time.

'Your precious little collection?! You're scum Van Statten! Was it worth it then? Worth all those people, worth Rose, she was worth a thousand of you Van Statten, it should be you lying dead in the vault not her!' he yelled, maddened with grieve and rage.

'Craig's right, cause let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore. To be part of something greater' the Doctor echoed in fury.

'Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!' he cried enthusiastically, standing up to emphasise his point.

'You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground underneath tons of sand and dirt. And label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get' the Doctor spat hatefully. His face was contorted with fury and guilt and rage, before it softened into a sadden heart-broken one.

'And you took her down with you. She was nineteen years old' he whispered as Craig cried harder, and shocked, the Doctor pulled him back into a hug, and that was how they stayed.

…

Rose was trembling but confused. She was sure she'd heard the sound of the ray gun being fired, heard her brother's frantic screams over the phone before the line went dead. But she was still here, still feeling her fear. Her eyes were shut, it was just a reaction, but she was still there, and she cautiously opened them. Next to her on the wall was a large blackened patch. It had missed her, or had deliberately not aimed at her. Why? She had no clue.

And there it was, right in front of her but not moving, not doing…anything. It was just staring at her. It made no sense.

'Go on then, kill me' she told it. She really didn't want it too, but this waiting was even worse. When it remained silent and stationary it made her angry. Why was it doing this, it didn't care, it had killed all those others, and now it was playing with her!

'Why are you doing this?' she cried angrily.

'I am armed. I will kill. It is my purpose' it sounded different now, sort of confused, like it was doubting itself.

'They're all dead because of you!' she cried in a pained voice.

'They are dead because of us' it sounded almost frantic now, and its comment hit her hard. It was her fault, if only she hadn't touched it in the cell, then none of this would have happened!

'And now what? What're you waiting for?' she asked after a few moments silence.

'I feel your fear' it stated, still in that odd tone.

'What do you expect?!' she scoffed in disbelieve, of course she was bloody scared, she was about to die any second!

'Daleks do not fear. Must not fear' it cried, before shooting its ray wildly at the wall on either side of she as she stood stock still, like a rabbit in the headlights.

'You gave me life. What else have you given me? I am contaminated!' it cried hysterically, wobblingly slightly, almost like it was trembling. Rose just stared at it, this made absolutely no sense what so ever, but she would listen to it for now, it might just keep her alive long enough to escape. She could only hope.

…

Craig whirled on the spot as Van Statten's door open and in came Adam, rubbing his wrist slightly. He furiously advanced on him.

'YOU!' he growled, his arms raised threateningly. He was going to kill that man, he'd left Rose along down there, he should have done something. Adam choked as Craig proceeded to throttle him, before Goddard put a reassuring hand on his arm and he released the other man, albeit reluctantly.

'You were quick on your feet, leaving Rose behind' the Doctor spat at him.

'I'm not the one who sealed the vault!' Adam shot back indignantly as he rubbed his sore throat. Suddenly the screen lit up again, and Craig nearly fell over with relieve. The Dalek was there, and Rose was standing right next to it.

'Open the bulkhead or Rose Tyler dies' it ordered in a harsh voice.

'Rose! Oh thank god! Thank god!' Craig cried tearfully in his joy.

'You're alive!' the Doctor cried in delight.

'Can't get rid of me' she commented lightly and Craig scowled.

'I thought you'd died, you get what that's like?' he frowned but couldn't help but laugh. Rose was alive, he knew she wasn't dead, he just knew it, and he was right! That was so fantastic!

'Open the bulkhead!' the Dalek interrupted the joyous reunion.

'Don't do it!' Rose cried.

'You have to!' Craig protested, he'd just lost her and got her back, he couldn't lose her again, he just couldn't!

'What use are emotions if you will not save the sister and the woman you love?' the Dalek asked them. The Doctor looked absolutely stunned, probably because a Dalek shouldn't be able to recognise love or more likely because he himself hadn't realised. Now there was no choice, he had to save Rose.

He turned to Van Statten who was looking at him, also in shock. He was about to open his mouth when he heard the click of a gun, and turning in surprize, his eyes widened as he saw Craig was holding Goddard's, and it was pointed right at him.

'OPEN IT' he all but shrieked in a voice so harsh it was barely recognisable as his own.

'Craig… just calm down' he tried to sooth his friend but he was far beyond that. He didn't care that he was pointing a gun at him, in fact he'd be surprized if he didn't. It made him human to want to protect his younger sister, and he loved him all the more for that quality.

'OPEN IT NOW OR I'LL FIRE' he screamed louder, aiming the gun a little higher.

'Craig, please put it down, you don't want to use that do you?' he asked softly.

'She already died once today, and I didn't stop it. I failed her. My baby sister and I failed to look after her. But not again, you hear me? Now open that door' he spoke in a tearfully voice now, the gun was wobbling in his shaking hands. Van Statten, Goddard and Adam all looked at the Doctor to see his reaction, all silent in case the distressed blonde turned on them.

'He's right. I killed her once. I can't do it again' he said, going over to the computer, the gun still trained shakily on him as he hit the return key. On the screen, the bulkhead door opened and the Dalek and Rose slowly went through it, out of sight. More tears fell as Craig dropped the gun to the floor with a clatter. The Doctor instantly had him wrapped in his arm, in a firm hug.

'Sssh, it's ok, she's ok now' he whispered into Craig's hair as he rocked the distressed human back and forth slightly.

'But what do we do now? You bleeding hearts, what the hell do we do?' Van Statten cried desperately. Craig struggled in the Doctor's arms, he so wanted to hit him again, but he was too emotionally drained right now, he just let the Doctor hold onto him, who was staring at Van Statten, his words failing him.

'Kill it when it gets here!' Adam suggested, rather uselessly Craig thought as his mind began to work clearly again, as he and the Doctor broke apart. They were right after all, Rose might be alive, but she was far from safe, as were they.

'All the guns are useless, and the alien weapons are in the vault' Goddard said helplessly.

'Only the catalogued ones' Adam said, not looking them in the eye. Van Statten turned to him, his eyebrows raised high, his mouth set in a firm disapproving look. Adam looked back at him, his expression apologetic, but Craig couldn't care less right now, he only cared about getting Rose away from that Dalek.

'Come on then! Don't just stand there!' he yelled when Adam didn't speak again, and snapping back into action, he hurried out of the room, leading them down the corridor, well, the Doctor and Craig anyway. Van Statten and Goddard had remained in his office.

Within seconds they were in his messy workshop, and he led them to a basket filled with a range of strange bulky black guns. The Doctor was riffling through them whilst Adam and Craig watched.

'Broken' he took one out, throwing it aside before taking another.

'Broken' he repeated, and again threw it aside before taking another.

'Hairdryer' he said about the third one. Adam's face was slowly falling and Craig's was becoming a scowl. This was hopeless!

'Mr Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff, and when he does he wipes their memory. I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day' Adam explained. At this Craig actually laughed.

'Yeah right you in a fight' he laughed loudly.

'I could do' Adam protested, slightly offended.

'What're you gonna do, throw your A-Levels at 'em?' Craig commented before turning back to the Doctor, who was throwing another weapon away.

'What about this one' he asked, taking the biggest and strangest gun of all from the pile. The Doctor took it from him, looking closely at it before smiling slightly.

'Fantastic. Lock and load' he said as he held in on his arm, clicking a large block switch forwards, and with a large click, the weapon was armed and ready to be fired.

'Hold on Rose, we're coming' Craig muttered to himself as they set off again, this time without Adam. He was going to get her back, he knew it. That Dalek would not be allowed to prevent that, it would not get in his way!

…

Rose was trembling ever-so slightly. She was in the lift; the Dalek was right next to her. If she tried anything there was no doubt it would kill her. She gulped nearly silently as the exterminator ray twitched ever so slightly.

The atmosphere was so tense it was sickening, but she had to say something, beg it not to kill the Doctor and Craig, she wouldn't be able to bare it if either of them got hurt. She knew that Craig must have been cut up inside at the thought of her death, and she felt guilty about causing him that pain, but she could stop it from happening again. She just needed to convince it not to kill anymore, if that was even possible.

'I'm begging you, don't kill them, you didn't kill me' she pleaded with it, desperation lining her tone. The head span around and its eyepiece nearly hit her in the face, she ducked to avoid it.

'But why not? Why are you alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I?' it cried in its new frenzied tone. She was about to reply when the lift dinged to a halt and the doors opened, revealing Van Statten and Goddard in Van Statten's office.

'Don't move! Don't do anything, it's beginning to question itself' she warned them before anybody could speak up. The Dalek began to roll out of the lift, heading for Van Statten.

'Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?' it asked in an almost pleading voice.

'I wanted to help you, I just… I don't know, I… I was just trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you… I wanted you better, I'm sorry.' He sounded terrified as he back against the wall. The Dalek was still advancing, cornering the petrified man.

'I'm so sorry! I swear! I just wanted you to talk!' Van Statten cried shrilly.

'Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate!' the Dalek began to chant. Van Statten closed his eyes in terror whilst Goddard looked away in horror. No matter what Van Statten was, how uncaring and foul he was, she couldn't just do nothing, she Rose ran other to the Dalek's side.

'Don't do it! Don't kill him!' she yelled. The Dalek span around to face her, and she stared right back into its eyepiece.

'You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else. Not just killing- what else is there? What d'you want?' she asked in a desperate tone, well aware of the fact it could still kill her at any moment. The Dalek turned back to look at the terrified Van Statten, and then back to her.

'I want freedom' it said softly.

'Then let's go there then' she replied in a gentle tone, and together, human and Dalek, they got back into the lift, searching for their freedom.

…

The Doctor was running up the stairs, holding the alien weapon, Craig right by his side, who was continuously muttering to himself, reassuring himself that Rose was still alive, that he'd get her away from the Dalek, that they'd all be OK. They were heading for the floor 01, and they'd be ready.

…

The Dalek rolled around a corner into a large dank dusty corridor, much like the others, and Rose was right behind it. She walked alongside it until it came to a stop,, ducking slightly as it blasted a hole in the ceiling. Pouring through it came the sunlight and Rose had to take a moment to appreciate that fact. She had felt cold and alone, waiting for the Dalek in a vault underground, and in that moment she felt so cut off, that the feeling of the outside world was almost overwhelming.

'You're out. You made it. Never thought I'd see the sunlight again' she smiled softly.

'How... does... it... feel?' the Dalek asked wonderingly. It began to shuddered slightly, small puffs of steam shot from its chest, and her jaw dropped as its casing opening sideways, revealing the true Dalek inside. It was sort of like a flesh coloured octopus, with a large yellow eyes and a sort of sewn up mouth. Its tentacles were slowly reaching out to the sunlight. The area it was in was covered in dripping fluid. It looked so harmless, it was pitiful.

Rose jumped as a voice rang out from behind her.

'Get out of the way' the Doctor ordered loudly, and as she turned Rose saw him standing there holding a large gun. She couldn't believe it, the Doctor, her Doctor, pointing a gun at a creature that looked so lost and frail, his face full of hatred. Craig was standing next to him, but not for long.

'Rose!' he cried delightedly, running over and embracing her. She clung desperately to him as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. She thought she would never see him again, and that made her feel physically sick. They swayed slightly, so happy to see each other again.

'I thought I'd lost you' Craig whispered in his ear, his own tears falling into her hair.

'Never' she said just as quietly in his. But the happy moment was broken, by another shout from the Doctor. They were still standing in front of the Dalek as they broke apart.

'Rose, Craig, get out of the way, now!' he ordered them. Craig looked down at Rose, almost begging her to side aside, sighing when he saw the determined look in her eye. She wasn't going to move, and if she wasn't then he wasn't. He gently grabbed her hand, staring right back at the Doctor fiercely.

'No! 'Cos I won't let you do this!' she told him flatly. She wouldn't let him become a cold blooded killer, not like this.

'And to get through her you get through me, you got that?' Craig growled at him.

'That thing killed hundreds of people' the Doctor spat back, glaring at the Dalek.

'It's not the one pointing the gun at us' she said coldly.

'I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left' the Doctor said sounding slightly choked.

'And what about us?' Craig asked, and once again that day the Doctor looked stunned. They both really meant it; they'd really stay with him for good, for the rest of their lives they'd be with him. He knew in that moment he had found a family, and now he was pointing a gun at them. It made him feel sick.

'Look at it' Rose added sadly, and she pulled Craig aside so the Doctor could see the Dalek more clearly. It was still reaching out towards the sunlight.

'What's it doing?' he asked in confusion.

'It's the sunlight, that's all it wants!' Rose cried.

'But it can't…' he replied, his voice starting to shake. This couldn't be happening, it was a Dalek, Dalek's didn't feel, they couldn't feel!

'It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me, it's changing. What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?' she asked softly, and the Doctor looked almost tearfully at her, finally lowering the gun. His expression made him look completely lost, and it broke the Tylers' hearts.

'I couldn't…' he almost cried, but they both just kept staring at him. he had to make them understand!

'I wasn't… Oh, Rose. Craig. They're all dead' he nearly sobbed. Craig moved back over to him and pulled him into a hug. It only lasted a few moments as they broke about when the Dalek spoke up.

'Why do we survive?' it croaked.

'I don't know' the Doctor sounded so sincere in that comment it was heart-breaking.

'I am the last of the Daleks' it choked.

'You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You absorbed her DNA. You're mutating' the Doctor said genuinely sad about that, but Rose couldn't see why, surely that was a good thing?

'Into what?' it demanded softly.

'Something new. I'm sorry' the Doctor apologised, and he literally meant it. He was sorry his greatest opponent was changing.

'Isn't that better?' Rose decided to ask, and with a sad expression, the Doctor looked back at her.

'Not for a Dalek' he told her solemnly.

'I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness... Rose... give me orders! Order me to die' it begged of her, wearily closing its eye. The Doctor looked between them as Craig felt a tear run down his face. This was awful, so awful, it was the end. The end of a horrific and terribly long day.

'I can't do that' she said, shaking her head. And she couldn't, no matter what that Dalek had done, no matter what it deserved, she couldn't order it to die.

'This is not life. This is sickness' it protested, causing her face to contort into an expression of pity mixed with disgust. If it really thought that low of emotion, maybe it truly was better of dying…

'I shall not be like you. Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!' it demanded in a stronger tone.

'Do it' she said nearly silently after a moment's pause.

'Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?' it asked her in an almost scared voice.

'Yeah' she nodded quietly.

'So am I. Exterminate' it said in the most feeble voice one could imagine. Rose stumbled backwards, where Craig wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders whilst the Doctor grabbed her hand. The Dalek levitated into the air as it closed its casing. The golden bumps all floated away from the body to show they were actually spheres in intentions in the Dalek, and they formed a sort of large sphere around the Dalek. The sphere glowed briefly, before it exploded, but not outwards. It exploded inwards, fading the Dalek into nothingness. They just looked at the place it had vanished, all three of them stunned.

'Come on, back to the Tardis' Craig whispered after a few moments, pulling a shell shocked Doctor and a sadden Rose with him. As they exited the corridor, Goddard came out of one of the rooms.

'Mr Tyler? Could you please come with me for a moment?' she requested politely, but she was met with three uneasy faces.

'Relax, I only want to show you something, something you might like to witness' she smiled warmly. Craig turned to the Doctor and Rose.

'Go on, I'll catch you up' he told them, and nodding silently, they kept on going, hand in hand, and out of sight. He sighed, this was going too hard for all three of them to deal with, but together they'd get through it, that much he knew. Goddard beckoned him forwards, leading him into another corridor.

Van Statten was standing in the middle of it, watching them interestedly. He was surrounded by his security guards, the ones who had survived. Goddard smiled at the blonde before turning to them, nodding her head slightly. Instantly several of the guards grabbed Van Statten and started pushing him back. Craig looked surprized, but followed behind Goddard as she briskly walked after them.

'What the hell are you doing?!' Van Statten demanded indignantly.

'Two hundred personnel dead and all because of you, sir. Take him away, wipe his memory, and leave him by the road someplace' Goddard ordered smugly, and Craig began laughing. He could see now why he'd been invited to see this. Van Statten might not actually deserve to die, but he sure got what was coming to him. And boy did it feel good!

'You can't do this to me! I am Henry Van Statten!' he spat as he began to struggle.

'And by tonight, Henry Van Statten will be a homeless, brainless junkie living on the streets of San Diego, Seattle, Sacramento' she smiled as he was dragged around a corner and out of sight. She turned back to Craig with a flourish and a satisfied smile.

'Someplace beginning with 'S'' she said with a smile.

'Couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke' Craig commented with mock seriousness, before they both burst out laughing.

'So what now?' he asked once they had calmed down.

'Oh I think this place will hold too many bad memories don't you? It's time it was sealed away, keep this stuff from the Henry Van Statten's of this world. I'm gonna have it filled with cement, so I'd get out quick if I were you' she added seriously, and with a final nod, she walked in the direction of Van Statten's office. Craig felt a sense of satisfaction rise within him, before he broke into a run to get back to the Doctor and Rose.

…

The Doctor and Rose were standing outside the Tardis, waiting on Craig. They'd wondered aloud about what Goddard wanted to show him, but no obvious thoughts sprang to mind. The Doctor had his hand on the door, looking pensively up at it, lost in thought.

'Little piece of home. Better than nothing' he commented sadly.

'Is that the end of it? The Time War?' Rose asked softly.

'I'm the only one left. I win. How about that' he asked slightly harshly.

'The Dalek survived… maybe some of your people did too' she offered consolingly.

'I'd know. In here' he tapped his temples knowingly, after all Time Lords could feel the minds of other Time Lords.

'Feels like there's no one' he said sadly.

'Well then, good thing I'm not going anywhere. And I'm not sure but I don't think Craig is either' she smiled.

'Yeah' he smiled warmly back. And she was right; he wasn't ever going to let something take one of them away ever again. Just at that moment, Adam came jogging up to them, now wearing a grey hoodie over his shirt.

'We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared… they're closing down the base' he explained, and the Doctor turned to face him with his arms folded.

'Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement! Like it never existed!' the young man frowned almost bitterly.

'About time' Rose noted aloud.

'I'll have to go back home' Adam sad sadly. Just at that moment Craig walked into the room, and was swiftly back by Rose's side.

'Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at 1500 hours' the Doctor continued at Adam after giving Craig a little smile.

'Adam was saying that all his life he's wanted to see the stars…' Rose said hintingly. The Doctor knew what she was suggesting, and there was absolutely no way! He decided to play dumb.

'Tell him to go and stand outside, then' he commented drily.

'He's all on his own, Doctor. And he did help' she said sadly, trying to get Adam a sympathy vote.

'He left you down there!' the Doctor reminded her.

'So did you two!' she countered.

'Hey, I didn't! I told him not too' Craig protested.

'What're you talking about? We've got to leave!' Adam spoke as if they were insane, nodding like leaving was a good thing, trying to convince them. After all, they'd get sealed in in a minute!

'Rose, he's a bit pretty' the Doctor commented, not even acknowledging Adam had spoken.

'I hadn't noticed' was her innocent reply. The Doctor raised his eyebrows sceptically and looked towards Craig.

'Don't look at me, her business is her own' the blonde man responded. And it was, they had always worked on the fact that as brother and sister they would never interfere in the other's love affairs or it would just get messy. They always had worked like that and they always would.

'Fine, on your own head' he said turning back to Rose, before walking into the Tardis, leaving the door for him.

'And just to be clear, you hurt her, and that throttling will look like a pleasant hug compared to the beating I'll give you' Craig warned him, before following the Doctor. Personally he didn't like Adam, and not because he'd left Rose all alone down with the Dalek, but because he'd seen his type before. A guy who wanted to achieve success and fame and those types of people tended to be scheming and trouble causers. But if Rose liked him, he'd live with it. Only for her sake though, and if he hurt her, he live to regret it! Rose swiftly followed him in, leaving the door open for Adam.

'What're you doing? She said 'cement'. She wasn't joking, we're going to get sealed in!' he cried after them. Any moment now…

Doctor? What're you doing standing inside a box? Craig? Rose?' he questioned in a tone which sounded concerned for their mental health. Slowly, he peered through the doors and stepped inside. His mouth was wide open, his eyes nearly popping out as Craig laughed and shut the door behind him, whilst the Doctor took them away from this horrible place.

…

It was later that night, and once Rose had explained everything to an alarmed Adam, which was admittedly rather amusing to watch, she'd led him down the hall to find him a room, leaving the Doctor and Craig alone.

Craig felt guilty, he'd held a gun at his best friend. And he was scared. His DNA was changing, into what? He had no idea. But he was absolutely convinced it had something to do with Bad Wolf. He was sitting in the pilot's seat, whilst the Doctor was doing some work underneath the controls. They were just floating in the vortex right now, nice and peaceful for a change.

'Doctor' he said quietly, drawing the other man's attention.

'Hum' was the quiet reply.

'I'm sorry' he said softly, and the Doctor pulled himself up, looking at him in confusion.

'That gun, I wouldn't really have fired it' he elaborated.

'I know' the Doctor smiled softly back at him.

'Right' Craig nodded and they fell back into silence. Before he had to break in again.

'My DNA, what's different about it?' he asked, and with a look of a man remembering, the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned him with it. He frowned at the results.

'Impossible' he whispered, as Craig jumped to his feet.

'What is it?' he moved over to look at the screwdriver.

'Somehow you've got traces of the Time Vortex in you, but that's not possible, It hasn't even happened yet!' he cried.

'Hold on, traces of the Time Vortex, that's what we travel through right?' he asked.

'Yeah, it's sort of like a tunnel, the tunnel of the raw power of time and space, history all stacked up against each other, you've got traces of it in your body' the Doctor told him.

'Well, couldn't it have come from the Tardis' Craig suggested fearfully.

'No, I don't know where it came from, but I think we'll find out sometime in the future, best leave it for now' the Doctor shrugged him off.

'Am I safe' was the distressed response.

'Of course' the Doctor smiled encouragingly.

'You'd tell me wouldn't you' he asked pleading, and the Doctor sighed, placing his hands on the blonde's shoulders.

'Craig Tyler, I promised to keep you safe, and I will. You trust me right' he grinned and Craig laughed.

'Absolutely' he nodded with a grin.

'Then go to bed, put this behind you, and trust that I'll keep you safe' he gave him a small push in the direction of the hallway to his bedroom.

'Night Doctor' he chuckled before leaving the control room in search of his bed.

The Doctor sighed as soon as he was out of the room. Craig Tyler made absolutely no sense. His mind was huge, lasting longer than possible for a human being and his DNA was changing, but he had no idea into what. He knew that for now he'd be safe, but sometime in the future, if it became dangerous, if travelling with him was making it worse, then he'd have to put a stop to it, keep Craig under quarantine in the Tardis until he figured out what was wrong and how to help him. He sighed again; there was nothing he could do for Craig now, so he headed to bed himself, his mind filled with thoughts about both the past and the future.

**...**

**And there we go! I was in a bit of conflict over whether I should keep Adam for the next episode or have Craig tell him where to go, but in the end I decided he was worth having in the next story. And I really hope people liked me having Craig turn a gun on the Doctor in his desperation. That was one of my favourite bits of writing this episode cause it shows exactly where Craig's priorities lie : ) But the Doctor still forgiving him and caring about him is so sweet too! Anyway, that's the end of Dalek, a very popular episode, and next up is The Long Game. I hope you enjoyed this, and keep on reading : )**


	45. The Long Game, Life Aboard Floor 139

**And here's The Long Game! I'm so glad that people seemed to like the ending to Dalek and the way I'm developing Craig's character in this story, and for that reason I've got a bit of special news, but I'm going to save that for the footer note cause I can ; ) So, I'm not overly sure what I think about this adventure, there won't be a lot of Craig plot until the last chapter but I'm 99% sure you'll find it worth waiting for : ) Other then that, please note that I don't own Doctor Who, But I do own Craig Tyler.**

**...**

**The Long Game**

**The Long Game – Life aboard Floor 139**

With an unusually soft thud, the Tardis landed, and the Doctor, Rose, and Craig all headed for the doors, Adam was standing nervously by the controls. He looked a little lost, like he wasn't sure how he'd come to be here.

'Is it safe' he cried anxiously. Rose got a sly smile on her face, like she was planning something, and Craig did NOT miss it. He knew that face and he knew his sister, she liked Adam, even if he wasn't really the best guy she could get. Adam was sweet, but Mickey was faithful, and in a relationship faithful means a lot.

'Tell ya what, us three will check it out first' she told him, and before anyone could say anything else, she pulled the Doctor and Craig out of the Tardis door, closing it quickly behind her. They had landed in a large but crowded area, with silver cone-like objects which resembled bar stools, a large kind of box which looked like a closed burger van with no wheels, and a large bulky black doorway with big red lights on each side.

Rose immediately turned to the Doctor for information, which he was quick to give. Craig smirked at her, he knew what she was up to now. She wanted to impress Adam with temporal knowledge, clever… he'd have to try his hand at that himself some time, he thought to himself as he listened to what the Doctor had to say.

'So, it's 200 000, it's a spaceship, no wait a minute, space station, and uh… go and try that gate over there. Off you go!' he pointed at the doorway, or gate as he had named it. He stepped back and leaned against the Tardis.

'200 000?' she asked to confirm.

'200 000' he nodded with a grin. He raised his eyebrows as Rose giggled and she opened the TARDIS door, calling inside.

'Adam? Out you come, it's safe' she called him out. He took his face steps into his new world, his mouth hanging open, his eyes wide. Craig chuckled, he was sure that he and Rose must have looked the same.

'Oh my God' he whispered awestruck.

'Don't worry, you'll get used to it' Rose reassured him.

'Don't say that, I never wanna get used to it' Craig grinned, it was true. He loved that feeling, the unknown that went with them wherever they went, it was fantastic!

'Where are we?' Adam asked as he looked around.

'Good question. Let's see. So, um… judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200 000' Rose said knowledgably, pretending to examine the smaller details around them. Craig put his hand up to his mouth and bit lightly into it to stop himself from laughing and ruining her scheme. Adam didn't notice as he nodded and mumbled an almost silent response, still completely boggled.

'If you listen… engines' Rose carried on, and the Doctor grinned, boy was she good at this!

'We're on some sort of space station. Yeah. Definitely a space station. It's a bit warm in here, they could turn the heating down' she commented as she rubbed uncomfortably at her collar, and Craig nodded his agreement, but then again they were both wearing jumpers; Rose and pink and black one, Craig a bright yellow one.

'Tell you what, let's try that gate. Come on!' she suggested as she opened said gate, Adam nervously but excitedly right behind her. He sort of looked like a little puppy dog following her around.

Craig walked up with the Doctor at his side.

'Ah, bless… she's trying to impress him. Pathetic isn't it' he loudly whispered to the Doctor, who chuckled, and even from a distance they could see the smirk on Rose's face, but Adam was still too amazed to hear. They came out into a long rectangular room, a large glass window forming one of the walls. The other walls were all a rusty colour, and in the centre of the room a computer built into a stand stood there, clearly to provider people with information. The sight outside the window was much more impressive than the dingy room though, for they were looking out onto planet Earth, and it was casting a deep blue glow into space. It was beautiful.

'Here we go! And this is…' Rose trailed off as they approached the window, by climbing over a set of railing to get to it. They all looked down onto the blue and green sphere below them, Adam having to hold onto the railings for support.

'I'll let the Doctor describe it' she whispered, a little awestruck herself.

'The fourth great and bountiful human empire. And there it is. Planet Earth at its height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons, population 96 billion. The hub of a galactic domain, stretching across a million planets, a million species… with mankind right in the middle' he grinned and Craig let out an amazed laughed, before it turned into hysterical fits as Adam fainted on the spot.

'AHAHAHAHA, and he's AHAHAHA He's your boyfriend!' he roared with laughter as he doubled over with hysterics. The Doctor was soon laughing, as was Rose.

'Not anymore' she giggled, and the three of them broke into even larger gales of laughter. Once they had calmed down slightly, which was a good five minutes later; Craig crouched down next to the unconscious man.

'Come on, wake up ya little wuss' he gently shook him. Groggily and groaning, Adam opened his eyes, looking up at him in confusion before his eyes widened as his memories returned in force.

'Oh my god!' were his first words once more.

'And your back with us!' he grinned down at the confused Adam.

'Well if Adam's done being a drama queen, let's go explore' the Doctor grinned as Craig and Rose helped Adam to his feet. The Doctor put his arms around Craig and Rose's shoulders, with Adam's around hers on the other side, and soon they were back in the main room, the Doctor leading the way.

'Come on, Adam. Open your mind. You're gonna like this, fantastic period of history. The human race at its most intelligent - culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners…' he was cut of through his encouraging speech as a man on a strange sort of bicycle rode past them.

'Out of the way!' he cried rudely at them. Suddenly the entire floor sprang into life around them. The box in the centre opened up, and people began to queue up for food no doubt. The room was filled with loud chatter as they looked around in wonder.

'One at a time…' an elderly man in a red uniform behind the counter at the stall was crying.

'One at a time. what was it? Kronkburger with cheese, Kronkburger with pajatos' he asked a couple at the first of the line who nodded. What Kronkburgers and pajatos were Craig had no idea. The vender turned his attention to a man with spiky blonde hair and a leather jacket.

'Oi! You, mate! Stop pushing. Get back. I SAID, back' he cried in annoyance. he didn't notice Rose moving forwards to get a closer look at the food behind the case, before she turned to the Doctor.

'Fine cuisine?' she asked, slight distain lining her voice.

'My watch must be wrong. No, it's fine… weird' he replied as he checked his alien watch.

'That's what comes of showing off. Your history's not as good as you thought it was' Craig teased his, causing his face to become a pout.

'My history's perfect' was his response.

'Well, obviously not…' Rose teased him to.

'They're all human. What about the millions of planets? The millions of species? Where are they?' Adam asked wonderingly.

'Good question. Actually, that IS a good question' the Doctor sounded impressed with the young man for a change. He jovially put his arm around Adam's shoulder.

'Adam, me' old mate, you must be starving' he commented with a grin.

'No, I'm just a bit time sick' Adam shook his head.

'Nah, you just need a bit of grub' the Doctor countered, whilst Craig approached the vender.

'Excuse me mate, how much for a Kronkburger?' Craig asked.

'Two credits twenty, sweetheart. Now, join the queue' he said sarcastically.

'Credits?' Craig turned to the Doctor.

'Money. We need money' he stated, his sonic screwdriver ready as he led them over to a hole in the wall under a screen.

'Have to use a cash point' he said as he used the sonic. Rose, Craig and Adam all watched interestedly as a small silvery metal strip fell out of the slot. He repeated it twice more, and soon all three humans were given one of the objects. They were clearly some futuristic version of money or a credit card.

'There you go, pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets' the Doctor said as he began to walk away, Craig at his side.

'How does it work?' Adam asked as he examined it. Irritated, the Doctor turned back.

'Go and find out! Stop nagging me! The thing is, Adam, time travel's like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guide book, you've got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers' he grinned, causing Rose and Craig to laugh loudly, whilst Adam just stared at him, his brow furrowed.

'… or is that just me?' he pretended to frown in thought.

'Nope! Similar thing once happened to me in Cardiff' Craig grinned. he opened his mouth to explain, but the Doctor swiftly spoke over him.

'Now that's a story I think is best left unspoken' the Doctor teased and Craig childishly stuck his tongue out at him, causing him to laugh.

'Anyway, stop asking questions, go on, do it!' the Doctor shooed Adam away, who turned and walked into the crowd, whilst Rose went to go follow him.

'Off you go then! Your first date' the Doctor teased her.

'Just don't kiss him yet, he might faint again!' Craig added with a grin.

'You're both going to get a smack, you two are' she laughed as she walked away. They both just grinned at each other, before the Doctor's faded into a more thoughtful expression, which Craig was quick to notice.

'What's the matter then?' he sighed.

'I've no clue as to what you mean Mr Tyler' the Doctor pretended to play dumb, causing Craig to scoff.

'I know that face, something's out of whack on this place, and you wanna go find out exactly what, am I close?' Craig smirked as the Doctor nodded. He briskly walked over to two women. One was shorter and had pale skin, with mousy brown hair and wearing a flowery top and black trousers. The other was taller, dark skinned, with braided dark hair changing to red at the ends and wearing a black well fitted suit. They were chatting quietly to each other as the Doctor stopped them.

'Erm… this is gonna sound daft, but can you tell us where we are?' he asked them. The dark woman indicated towards a huge sign on the wall, which neither of them had noticed before. In huge writing was the number 139.

'Floor 139... could they write it any bigger?' she asked in a disbelieving voice.

'And that's Floor 139 of…?' Craig trailed off for her to continue.

'Must've been a hell of a party' she commented, looking them up and down, most likely trying to tell if they were drunk.

'Oh, you're on Satellite Five' the other woman spoke up.

'What's Satellite Five' the Doctor asked her.

'Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?' the dark woman scoffed. It seemed she had a bit more attitude than the other woman.

'Look at us, we're stupid' the Doctor grinned brightly.

'Him more so' Craig teased, causing him to pout again.

'Hang on, wait a minute, are you a test? Some sort of management test kind of thing?' the light woman looked as if realisation had just hit her.

'You've got us. Well done. You're too clever for us' the Doctor smiled, showing them his psychic paper.

'So, He's the Doctor and I'm Craig, and we're interested in exactly how much the employees of Satellite Five know about their work' Craig smiled politely at them, inventing a story worthy of the Doctor.

'We were warned about this in basic training. All workers have to be versed in company promotion. Oh, I'm Suki, and this is my boss and friend Cathica' the light skinned woman, Suki, introduced them.

'Right. Fire away, ask your questions. If it gets me to Floor 500 I'll do anything' Cathica stated. She was clearly a high flyer and wanted to be in charge.

'Why, what happens on Floor 500?' the Doctor asked curiously.

'The walls are made of gold. And you should know… Misters Management. So… this is what we do' she said, walking away, leading them towards the screens lining the wall. Suki smiled at them both nervously as she followed.

'Latest news… sandstorms on the new Venus archipelago. Two hundred dead. Glasgow water riots into their third day… spacelane 37 closed by sunspot activity. And over on the BAD WOLF channel, the Face of Boe has just announced he's pregnant' she pointed to each screen as she spoke. Craig was hardly surprized by it this time, he knew that BAD WOLF would turn up sometime soon in this trip. He was about to open his mouth, to finally tell the Doctor that the words were following him, but the Doctor spoke first, and he lost his nerve.

'I get it. You broadcast the news' he realised.

'We ARE the news' Cathica confirmed proudly, whilst Suki smiled at them again, and they both smiled back, Craig's slightly forced. He wanted to tell the Doctor right now, he really did, but BAD WOLF also scared him. He just knew somehow that it was trouble, sometime in the future things would go terribly wrong for all of them, and it had something to do with his DNA being rewritten. But there were nothing he could do about it now, and with two strangers present this was definitely not the time to have that conversation.

'We're the journalists. We write it, package it and sell it' Cathica went on.

'600 channels all coming out of Satellite Five, broadcasting everywhere' she enthused.

'Nothing happens in the whole human empire without it going through us' she went on with certainty. And all the whilst she had absolutely no idea that the four of them were being watched. But then again, neither did the other three.

…

Adam was looking around nervously. He could hardly believe what was happening. He was hundreds of years in the future, on a space station, it was amazing, his dreams literally come true, and it was fantastic!

Rose had sat him down at a table in the middle of the crowded canteen whilst she went off to get them some drinks. He really liked Rose, she was sweet, but he was afraid Craig would have his kneecaps if he tried anything with her. he looked up as he heard a woman's voice over the loudspeaker systems.

'All staff are reminded that the canteen area now has self-cleaning tables. Thank you!' the message finished just as Rose returned, two paper cups in her hands, one of which she passed to him as she sat next to him.

'Try this. It's called 'zaffic', it's nice. It's like a, um… slush puppy' she tried to explain using 'their' time language.

'What flavour?' he asked interestedly.

'Um… Sort of, beef?' she replied after trying it through her straw.

'Oh, my God…' he cried in disgust, shaking his head when she laughed.

'It's like everything's gone. Home… family… everything' he said sadly. Rose looked at him in concern, before taking her mobile out of her pocket.

'This helps… the Doctor gave it a bit of a top-up. Who's back home, your mum and dad?' she asked curiously, trying to get a bit of background info never hurt as far as she was concerned anyway.

'Yeah' he nodded as she offered him the phone.

'Phone 'em up' she instructed.

'But that's one hundred and ninety- eight thousand years ago' he pointed out.

'Honestly, try it. Go on!' she insisted.

'Is there a code for planet Earth?' he asked as he took the phone from her. At this point, nothing would surprize him!

'Just dial!' she sighed softly. God, she thought she was bad when it came to questions, but she and Craig had nothing on Adam! He quickly dialled his home number.

'I'm sorry we're not in' his mother's voice told him, well, the answer machine's recording of her.

'It's on!' he cried in shock. It was impossible, he was literally calling backwards through time, amazing!

'Please leave a message. Thanks, bye!' it finished before the tone sounded.

'Hi. It's… it's me. I've sort of gone… travelling. I met these people… and we've gone travelling together. But, um… I'm fine… and I'll call you later. Love you. Bye' he decided to go with. It was sort of true after all. He hang up, his expression gleeful.

'That is just…' he was cut off as a loud klaxon honked loudly twice. They looked around slightly lost as everyone began to abandon the canteen area, going back to work, but they had no idea what to do, where to go! Suddenly the crowd parted slightly, and Rose could see the Doctor and Craig turn towards her.

'Oi! Mutt and Jeff! Over here!' the Doctor called as Craig waved them over, and beaming, Rose got up and ran over to them. She'd completely forgotten that Adam had yet to return her phone as he pocketed it sneakily.

…

'Rose, Adam, this is Cathica and Suki, and they're going to give us a demonstration of what goes on aboard Satellite Five' the Doctor grinned brightly when the two joined them.

'We are?' Suki questioned.

'Yes Suki, we are' Cathica said snappishly as she led them to a doorway, and when they went through the found themselves in a blindingly white room. It reminded Craig eerily of a hospital ward, it was too clinical. In the centre of the room was a chair raise of the ground on an octagonal platform, and hanging over it was a large rectangular box hanging from the ceiling, like a kind of scanner. Around the chair several people were all sitting crossed legs. Young men and woman formed the group, and they all looked up as Cathica addressed them.

'Now. Everybody behave. We have a management inspection. How do you want it? By the book?' she asked the last bit more quietly to the Doctor and Craig.

'Oh, right from scratch, thanks' the Doctor grinned at her. as she turned away, he, Craig and Rose all smirked at each other. They all loved it when they did role play, except they nearly always ended up getting caught, oh well…

'Ok, so, ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided or robot, my name is Cathica Santini Kadainy. That's Cathica with a 'C', in case you want to write to Floor 500 praising me, and please… do…' she heavily hinted. She was clearly desperate to get up the corporate ladder a bit higher. The Doctor grinned at her again, but gave a non-committal sort of jerk of his head.

'Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and be non-biased. That's company policy' she went on, smiling at the Doctor again who nodded seriously.

'Actually… it's the law' Suki spoke up with a smile of her own, but this seemed to irritate Cathica greatly. She clearly didn't think much of her 'friend's' abilities.

'Yes, thank you, Suki. Okay, keep it calm… don't show off for the guests… here we go' she said as she climbed onto the chair and lied down in it.

'And… engage safety…' she ordered, and all the staff held their hands over pads in front of them, all of which had two hand indentations on them. The walls all lit up as the staff did this, whilst the Doctor, Rose, Craig, and Adam all looked around in intrigue.

Cathica clicked her fingers, and suddenly her forehead split open like a door, revealing a pinkish red thing inside her, her brain. The Doctor looked mildly disgusted at the sight, Craig paled and gagged slightly, covering his mouth. Rose's eyes widened and her mouth hung open in alarm, and Adam leaned over the black metal railing lining the room to get a better look.

'And 3… 2… and spike' Cathica cried. From the scanner thing over her head, a sort of blue beam of light shot out of it, running through the doorway into her mind.

'What the hell is that?' Craig asked, his hand still over his mouth. He was afraid if he took it away he'd bit sick, and considering how he'd teased Adam for fainting, throwing up would be just a little bit embarrassing.

'Compressed information, streaming into her. Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain IS the computer' the Doctor explained softly.

'If it all goes through her, she must be a genius' Rose said wonderingly.

'Nah. She wouldn't remember any. There's too much, her head would blow up' the Doctor said as he began to walk around the room in a circle with Rose following.

'Oh, don't! it's bad enough with that door thing' Craig cried in disgust.

'The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets' the Doctor told them.

'So, what about all these people round the edge?' Rose asked, pointing at them.

'They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her 'and they transmit 600 channels. Every single fact in the empire beams out of this place' he said as they completed the circle of the room, leaning against the railings again, between Craig and Adam.

'Now, that's what I call power' he noted aloud.

'You alright?' Rose asked when she noticed Adam's perplexed expression.

'I can see her brain' he stated in shock.

'Do you want to get out?' she asked worriedly, and Craig couldn't help but smile at how much she seemed to care about him.

'No… no. This is technology, it's… it's amazing' Adam smiled widely.

'This technology's wrong' the Doctor frowned, and Rose, Craig and Adam all turned to him.

'Trouble?' Rose asked simply.

'Oh yeah' the Doctor grinned at her.

'There always is' Craig sighed with a sort of satisfied smile. After all, a bit of trouble made their adventures a little bit more meaningful and fun.

Suddenly there was a slight shuddering noise, and Suki twitched ever so slightly. She suddenly gasped and wretched her hands away from the pad as though it had zapped her with bolts of electricity. The circuit was broken, and the other members of staff all took their hands away as if forced. The lights on the walls went out, and the compressed information coursing into Cathica shut down as her head shut back up. Suki panted slightly as she rubbed her hands.

'Come off it, Suki, I wasn't even halfway, what was that for?' Cathica cried in annoyance.

'Sorry, must've been a glitch…' Suki breathed. Cathica sighed in frustration as she stood up. As she did, a loudspeaker sounded over the room and a projection on the wall activated.

'Promotion' it stated, and all the staff gasped slightly. Cathica clapped her hands together in prayer.

'This is it. Come on. God, make it me. Come on, say my name, Say my name, say my name…' she pleaded, a little bit too desperately. The Doctor, Rose, Craig, and Adam all looked at her, slightly concerned about her mental stability when it came to promotion.

'Promotion for… Suki Macrae Cantrell' the words on the wall flashed. Suki's mouth dropped open in delighted shock as Cathica's hopeful expression quickly changed to that of a gutted woman; she clearly was very annoyed by the turn of events.

'Please proceed to Floor 500' the voice told her. Suki shakily stood up, staring at the screen like she could not believe her eyes.

'I don't believe it… Floor 500…' Suki breathed in awe.

'How the hell did you manage that? I'm above you!' Cathica said harshly, no congratulations or happiness for her so-called friend in her at all.

'I don't know, I just applied on the off-chance… and they've said yes!' Suki laughed in delight.

'That's so not fair, I've been applying to Floor 500 for three years!' Cathica cried jealously.

'What's Floor 500?' Rose asked the Doctor. Craig and Adam also leaned in to listen to the conversation.

'The walls are made of gold' he frowned in reply. Something was up here, the knowledge was completely wrong, what was so great about Floor 500 because he was sure there were no golden walls, and what the hell was going on with Earth's history being askew? He had to find out what was going on, and by god, that was exactly what he intended to do.

**...**

**And that's part one! I hope you enjoyed it, but onto my special news, yay! Since you seem to like this story so much, I'm thinking of starting an accompanying piece to it. Basically my head is literally brimming with ideas for this and has been for a while, but I don't want to put them all in one story, since this is clearly going to end up over a hundred chapters as it is! So I thought to myself that the stories I didn't want to use in this could be put together as another one. The theory is that there will be ten adventures set out in the seem style as my own adventures in this, that's 40 chapters long, only there won't really be a back plot like there is to this, just various adventures in a similar style to The Blood Scales, that'll most likely be mentioned in this story at various points. Don't worry though, my favourite own adventures will still appear in this too, these one's would just be extras!. Each adventure would happen at a different place in regards to this, which I'd point out clearly in my author's notes, so if you think it's a good idea let me know and I'll post the first chapter, otherwise they'll either be forgotten about or included somewhere in this if I like them enough. Let me know and I hope you enjoyed this chapter: )**


	46. The Long Game, Society Gone Wrong

**And here's part 2! But even more exciting is that my companion piece to this is now up! Hooray! So if you wanna see more new aliens and creature and the Doctor, Rose, Craig and later Jack in whole new adventures, go to my profile page and read 'The Lost Tales of Craig Tyler' Other then that please note that I do not own Doctor Who, but I do own Craig Tyler ; )**

**...**

**The Long Game – Society Gone Wrong**

Suki was so excited that she had practically fled the spike room and back into the canteen area. The Doctor, Rose, Craig, Adam, and Cathica had all followed, albeit the latter slightly reluctantly, a sour expression on her face. She was clearly less than delighted about Suki's success. They were standing around the closed lift doors, Suki leaning up against them.

'Cathica, I'm gonna miss you! Floor 500… Thank you!' she cried the last bit at the Doctor and Craig.

'We didn't do anything!' the Doctor laughed.

'Well, you're my lucky charms!' she giggled.

'All right! I'll hug anyone!' he grinned. Suki laughed as they hugged. Cathica was looking stubbornly anywhere but at Suki as she hugged Craig too before breaking away. Adam was sitting a short distance away, staring at Cathica's forehead, clearly thinking about when it had opened up. Rose went over to him.

'Come on, it's not that bad…'she told him encouragingly. He turned to look at her in disbelief.

'What, with the… the head thing?' he asked weakly.

'Yeah, well she's closed it now!' Rose pointed out.

'Yeah but…it's everything. It freaks me out. And I just need to… if I could just… cool down. Sort of, acclimatize' he seemed to struggle to explain what he meant.

'How d'you mean?' Rose asked, willing to help if she could.

'Maybe… I could just go and sit on the observation deck? Would that be all right?' he asked, and she nodded.

'Soak it in, you know, pretend I'm a citizen of the year 200 000' he smiled.

'Do you want me to come with you?' she asked. She was a little worried about him, but then again when she'd been on Platform One it had taken a while for her to get used to it. Maybe in a couple more times Adam would ease up.

'No, no, you stick with the Doctor' he swiftly shook his head. She nodded again and waited for him to speak, and after a pause he did, but his words greatly surprized her.

'You'd rather be with him' he said sadly. She wanted to say it wasn't true, that she wasn't trying to lead him on or anything, but she couldn't, in a way she had been leading him on just not realising it, she wanted the Doctor, or at least she was starting too, but that wasn't love… was it?

'It's gonna take a better man than me to get between you two. Anyway, I'll be on the deck' he said as he got to his feet. She quickly dove into her pocket and pulled out her Tardis key.

'Here you go… take the TARDIS key. You know, just in case it gets a bit too much' she explained as she gave it to him.

'Yeah, like it's not weird in there' he commented with a soft smile. He began to walk away, but Rose didn't see that gleefully smug smile on his face, she wasn't aware that he had just played a blinder as she went back to Craig and the Doctor's sides.

'Oh, my God, I've got to go, I can't keep them waiting' Suki cried as she gathered up her bag and hurried to the lift.

'I'm sorry!' she cried back out them as the lift pinged open and she stepped inside.

'Say goodbye to Steve for me' she said to Cathica, who nodded slightly. But she probably had no intention of doing anything of the sort. The Doctor, Rose and Craig all smiled at Suki before the lift doors began to shut.

'Bye!' she waved, her expression that of great excitement.

The Doctor, Craig and Rose all waved cheerily at her as the doors shut completely, and the sweet woman was gone. Cathica looked away sourly.

'Good riddance' she commented softly under her breath.

'You're talking like you'll never see her again. She's only going upstairs' Craig pointed out. Cathica looked at him like he was mad.

'We won't. Once you go to Floor 500 you never come back' she explained with an incredulous expression lining her face. The three time travellers looked at the closed lift doors in wonder. Cathica began to walk away through the canteen and they swiftly followed her.

'Have you ever been up there?' the Doctor asked curiously. He had a very bad feeling that Suki had just walked willingly into a slaughter house, all because she thought the walls were made of gold. It was the same stupid ape mannerism to do something foolish because they'd think it would pay off.

'No. You need a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to 500 except for the chosen few' she said sadly. It was clear she truly wanted with her whole heart to be one of those chosen few.

'But what do they actually do up there?' Craig asked interestedly.

'They're the top journalists, they decide what stories we run, how we go about it, when we run certain broadcasts, and why. I'd do anything to get up there' Cathica said longingly.

'So basically they decide exactly what to tell everyone on Earth, what gets hidden from them' the Doctor noted, and Cathica got a deeply offended look on her face.

'We tell the public everything! They just decide when is the best time to tell them!' she shook her head.

'What're you thinking?' Rose turned to the Doctor.

'I'm thinking that we need to find out exactly what's going on up on floor 500' the Doctor said, sounding lost in thought.

'Well, don't you think we should can't of get out of the canteen when we're talking about this' Craig pointed out.

'Good point, don't know who could be listening in to us' the Doctor commented.

'Well, we could use the Spike Room' Rose suggested, and the all looked back towards Cathica, who nodded and began leading them back there. The Doctor was frowning slightly as they went, it was clear to him that something wasn't as it should be here, and it was clear to Rose and Craig that they'd be staying until he found out.

…

Adam went straight to the observation deck, looking out over the beauty of his planet in the future for a few moments. He couldn't believe his luck. He'd met three time travellers, and they were gullible enough to believe that the universe was just meant to be seen! They could go into the future, learn anything, and not use it to their advantage? He was smarter than that, and he knew exactly what to do.

He turned away from the window and went back to the computer, placing his hand over the hand pad. It was right there in front of him, his way to fame and success, he could achieve it all so easily!

'Give me access…' he trailed off, waiting, before the screen sprang to life. He pulled his hand away slightly and paused. It was really gonna work!

'I can learn anything' he whispered to himself in awe. He quickly looked around to make sure Rose hadn't followed him. He liked Rose, he really did, and even the Doctor and Craig were growing on him, but this was his chance, and he couldn't not do it just because of one woman. Rose was sweet and kind enough to understand he was sure, plus she clearly loved the Doctor, even if they were both to dense to exactly notice it. He'd made up his mind and he was doing this, and with that determined thought, he placed his hand back onto the hand pad.

'Let's try… uh, computers. From the 21st Century to the present date, give me the history of the Microprocessor' he stated, his eyes widening as the computer screen began to flicker through bit of information at lightning speed. He couldn't believe it, he was seeing so much information, and said information was way beyond his own time frame. Excellent!

'Oh my God' he whispered, he literally had the power to change history in his hand, all he had to do was keep the nerve to do it. He quickly brought out Rose's mobile and dialled his home number.

'Mum, Dad, KEEP this message, okay? Whatever you do, DON'T erase it' he decided to start with. It would be a total nightmare if after all this work his parents accidently took it from him.

'Save it. You got that?' he emphasized his point. He began to speak as the information passed over the screen.

'The microprocessor became redundant in the year 2019, when it was replaced by a system called SMT - that's Single Molecule Transcription…' he trailed off as all of a sudden the screen went blank, totally white. NO! it wasn't fair! He was so close! Why the hell was this stupid computer doing that now?!

'No, no, no, no, no, no! What're you doing! Come back!' he cried, kicking the base of the computer, but apart from getting a shooting pain in his toe, it achieved nothing. He quickly checked to make sure no-one had heard and come in, but finding the room empty, he turned back to the screen.

'Why are you doing that?' he cried in fury. The words 'Floor 16' flashed on the screen and remained there, almost stubbornly taunting him.

'What's Floor 16? What's down there?' he asked, but he got no reply, and with a low grown of fury, he stormed out of the room. He'd just have to wait a bit longer was all, he'd get to floor 16, find out why he needed to go there, and they'd he try again. He'd come this far, and no dodgy computer was going to stop him now, no way!

…

Cathica led the Doctor, Rose and Craig into the now deserted Spike Room, albeit she seemed very reluctant to help them. And as soon as they were inside, she made that point crystal clear.

'Look, they only give us twenty minutes maintenance, can't you give it a rest?' she almost pleading in annoyance. the Doctor was clearly driving her mad with all this questions which must seem stupidly obvious to her.

'But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?' he asked as he jumped up onto the chair on the platform and lied back in it. Craig went and sat on his legs, causing him to moan in pain and fly back into a sitting position, laughing as Craig smiled sweetly innocently at him as he hopped off. Rose giggled as she leant against the back of it. Cathica just watched their antics with a totally un-amused expression on her face.

'I went to floor 16 when I first arrived, that's medical, that's when I got my head done, and then I… I came straight here. Satellite Five, you work, eat and sleep on the same floor. That's it, that's all' she stated firmly, before a suspicious look came to her narrowed eyes.

'You're not management, are you' she asked them as it finally clicked that if they were they'd know all this.

'At last! She's clever!' the Doctor grinned mockingly at her.

'Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything' she shook her head quickly, clearly afraid that this would get her into trouble, no doubt her worry steamed from her desire for promotion.

'Don't you even ask?' Craig asked, if he was a journalist, he'd be asking this types of questions, trying to get to the entire truth, but Cathica seemed oddly reluctant. Maybe journalism was just different in this time period.

'Well, why WOULD I?' she scoffed.

'You're a journalist! Why's all the crew human?' the Doctor changed the subject without warning.

'What's that got to do with anything?' she asked in confusion.

'There's no aliens on board. Why?' he repeated.

'I don't know, no real reason, they're not banned or anything' she shrugged. Again the Doctor mocked her by looking around the empty room theatrically.

'Then where are they?' he asked. Cathica looked fairly stumped as she thought about her answer.

'I suppose immigration's tightened up. It's had to, what, with all the threats' she began to explain softly.

'What threats?' Rose asked curiously. After all, Adam had made a good point earlier. The Doctor had said there should be millions of stars and aliens and stuff, but so far all she'd seen was human. It made no sense!

'I don't know… all of them. Usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away. Oh, and the government on Traffic Five's collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see… just… lots of little reasons, that's all' she shrugged like it didn't really matter.

'Adding up to one great big fact, and you didn't even notice' the Doctor pointed out with a thoughtful frown. Cathica seemed to have had enough and frown in annoyance herself.

'Doctor, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything' she said with a sort of finality to her voice, but the Doctor, being the Doctor, always had to have the final word. That was one of the reasons Craig and Rose loved him, or at least that's what he'd tell himself.

'I can see better. This society's the wrong shape. Even the technology' he noted.

'It's cutting edge!' she cried indignantly.

'It's backward! There's a great big door in your head! You should've chucked this out years ago' he replied with a scoff. He was right, that door thing was just plain weird!

'So, what do you think is going on?' Rose asked.

'It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude. It's the way people think. The great and bountiful human empire's stunted. Something's holding it back' he replied.

'And how would you know?' Cathica scoffed. She was clearly getting sick of his attitude.

'Trust me. Humanity's been set back about 90 years, when did Satellite Five start broadcasting?' he asked curiously.

'91 years ago…' she replied after a moment's thought. The Doctor nodded absentmindedly at her, as she looked away, a thoughtful expression on her face, like everything the Doctor had said was begin to make sense to her.

Craig and Rose just looked at each other, there was something funny about this place, and they both knew that when something funny was going on, it often led to danger. They both braced themselves as they wondered what the universe was going to threw at this this time. But they both knew that with the Doctor at their side, nothing bad would come to them. Well, nothing THAT bad.

**...**

**And they it is. Now I might be a little bit later with the next update and they might begin to take a bit longer since I have two Doctor Who stories now, so I'll be working on the other one too. But when you think about it you'll still get to see how their travels go so it's not too bad. Please review, and please go check out The Lost Tales of Craig Tyler cause you all seemed to like The Blood Scales and the entire story is going to be like that! Read on faithful readers!**


	47. The Long Game, Up & Down the Satellite

**And here's part 3! Almost done now, and the next chapters a little more interesting but this needed doing first ; ) So, this is a little special since I've added Adam's bits in too, but not much to say other than that! Please note Doctor Who isn't mine, only Craig Tyler is : ) Enjoy!**

**...**

**The Long Game – Up & Down the Satellite**

Adam had carefully sneaked back through the canteen, and finding it clear of the Doctor, Rose and Craig, he immediately went to the lift. Stepping inside, he pressed the button for floor 16, and of he went, he was going to achieve his dream of genius and fame, and nothing was there to stop him! it was so excellent!

The lift doors opened to reveal a long greyish white room. Two long bronze pipes rang along each side near the ceiling and a huge '016' sign hung over the lift. There were two lines of staff sitting at desk on either side, all chatting away to people on his side, and two rows of benches were in the centre. He looked around, until he finally spotted a member of staff not talking to anyone, and he made his way over to her. She had a kind of cold face, like she didn't really want to be there, and dark sweeping hair and eyes to match. She was wearing a red uniform, and she looked to be some kind of nurse.

'Sorry, um - Floor 16 that's, um... what do you cover?' he asked, using his arms to lean against the chair.

'Medical non-emergency' she replied with blaring a glance at him.

'Right… wrong floor… I'm having technical difficulties, my screen keeps freezing, blocking me out' he went to turn away but she spoke up to soon.

'No, that's medical… there must be something wrong with your chip' she told him.

'Yes. Yeah, of course, yeah. I haven't got one' he laughed slightly.

'No wonder you can't get a screen to work' she rolled her eyes and he nodded.

'What are you, a… student?' she asked. Thinking quickly, Adam nodded.

'Yes, yeah, I'm um I'm on a research project from… the University of Mars' he made up, but thankfully she seemed to buy it as again she rolled her eyes.

'The Martian Boondocks. Typical' she said softly.

'Yep' he grinned and giggled apologetically.

'Well, you still need chipping' she stated, and Adam tensed up slightly.

'So… does that mean like… brain surgery?' he shuddered slightly.

'That's an old fashioned phrase… but it's the same thing, yes' she nodded.

'Oh… okay… never mind. But if I get a chip… that means I could use ANY computer' he grinned.

'Absolutely. You'll… have to pay for it. They've stopped subsiding' she told him, and he sighed. He had no money from this time period, and he couldn't ask the Doctor without him getting suspicious.

'Oh! Right. Sorry. Wasting your time. Thanks' he sighed as he got up and walked away, before memory returned to him.

'There you go, pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets'

His credit stick! Of course! He span on the spot and went back to her, taking it out of his pocket and holding it up.

'Hold on… can I use this?' he asked hopefully, and even more so when the nurse smiled.

'That'll do nicely' she said as she took it off him scanned it in her computer. Her eyes widened before she stood up. She led him through a door opposite the lift, and Adam found himself in a room similar to the Spike Room, white and octagonal, with a chair on a raised platform. The only difference was that there was table of strange instruments nearby, glinting up at them almost threateningly. She indicated for him to sit in the chair, which he nervously did.

'It all comes down to two basic types' she began to explain as she pushed the chair back whilst putting a strange sort of metal loop contraption around his head.

'Type one, the head chip. Inserted into the back of the skull , one hundred credits. There's the chip…' she said, placing a teeny tiny little metal chip on her forefinger and showing it to him.

'Tiny. Invisible. Type two is the full info-spike' she went on.

'Oh, um… that's the… thing' he asked nervously, pointing at his forehead and making the zooming sound Cathica's head door had made.

'That's the one. It does cost ten thousand' she smiled at him.

'Oh, well I um… I couldn't afford it, then' he pointed out.

'Not at all! Turns out, you've got unlimited credit' she smiled, waggling the credit stick at him. but was it really worth it, getting a great big door in his head just for fame?

'No, but… I couldn't have it done, I mean… that's gotta hurt, hasn't it?' he decided it wasn't.

'Painless. Contractual guarantee' she countered.

'No, my mate's waiting upstairs, I can't have major surgery' he laughed nervously, he was running out of excuses!

'It takes ten minutes. That sort of money buys a very fast picosurgeon' she smiled, whilst circling his chair in a somewhat predatory manner. He trembled slightly. There wasn't a way out of this! But, it was really as quick and painless as she said, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. NO! it was!

'No, but I… I couldn't, no, no. It's…' he shuddered. The nurse leaned in closer, looking him straight in the eyes.

'Type one - you can interface with a simple computer. Type two - you are the computer. You can transmit any piece of information from the archive of Satellite Five, which is just about the entire history of the human race. Now… Which one's it going to be?' she enticed, like she knew exactly what it was he wanted. And he did, he wanted it so much, it was his way to prove himself, to finally live like a genius should, he'd be mad to turn this opportunity down. He nodded and she smiled.

'Right then, Type two it is. Just hold still' she smiled, raising a needle to his arm, and a few seconds later, all Adam saw was black.

…

The Doctor, Rose and Craig had practically run out of the Spike Room and done a lap around the canteen area, when the Doctor had found exactly what they needed to get to the bottom of this. Two large silver corrugated doors, with a large computer panel on one side. The three of them crouched door and were working on getting into it, whilst Cathica anxiously paced around to the side of the,

'We're SO gonna get in trouble' she cried anxiously.

'You're not allowed to touch the mainframe, you're gonna get told off' she marched over to them with a disapproving frown on her face.

'Rose, Craig, one of you tell her to button it' was the busy Doctor's short reply.

'You can't just vandalise the place, someone's gonna notice!' she cried in an urgent whisper. But the Doctor took no notice of her, and wrenched the door open with Craig's help.

'This is nothing to do with me, I'm going back to work' she suddenly snapped and began to walk away from them.

'Go on then! See ya!' the Doctor said cheerfully and she whirled on the spot, an un-amused look on her face.

'I can't just leave you, can I!' she cried, raising her hand to the heavens above.

'If you wanna be useful, get 'em to turn the heating down. It's boiling. What's wrong with this place, can't they do something about it?' Rose cried; the heat was getting too much right now for her.

'I don't know, we keep asking… something to do with the turbine' Cathica shrugged.

'Something to do with the turbine' the Doctor mockingly repeated.

'Well, I don't know!' she snapped.

'Exactly! I give up on you, Cathica. Now, Rose and Craig, look at them. They're both asking the right kind of questions' he smiled proudly, causing them both to grin.

'I thank you' Rose giggled.

'What's going on upstairs? Why's Satellite Five so controlling over what the public knows? Why's it so hot?' the Doctor went on.

'One minute you're worried about the Empire and the next it's the central heating!' Cathica cried despairingly at them.

'Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important' he said, before he accidently snapped a bunch of wires and Craig burst into laughter at the perfect timing. Cathica looked away in exasperation. They had no clue that from upstairs they were all being scanned, and that one of them had rather unusual results.

…

Adam blinked to clear his head, before the memory of his choice came back in force. He quickly ran his hand over his forehead nervously, but he couldn't feel any difference, for which he was thankful. He noticed the nurse was right next to him.

'I told you it was painless. No scaring, you see? Perfect success' she smiled as she held a mirror up for him to see himself. He looked exactly the same as before, he couldn't even tell himself. At least the Doctor, Rose and Craig wouldn't be able to notice.

'How do I activate it?' he asked.

'It's a personal choice. Some people whistle… I know one man who triggers it with 'Oh, Danny Boy'' she joked, and he turned to look at her.

'But you're set on default for now. That's a click of the fingers' she explained softly.

'So you mean, I just…' he trailed off as the nurse raised her fingers, ready to click.

'Click' she nodded. Adam hesitantly brought up his fingers, and clicked. He paled as exactly like Cathica's, a hole in his head opened, and he could see his own brain!

He gently fingered the shutters for a few moments, his mouth hanging open, before he couldn't stand the sight anymore, and he quickly shut it again before flopping back in the chair.

'Oh, my God. I'm gonna be sick' he gagged, but when he started retching, a small cube fell into his hands. He raised it too his eyes. It was cold and slippery, like an ice-cube, but sort of vomit coloured. It was gross! He turned to the nurse with a confused expression.

'Special offer. We installed the vomit-o-matic at the same time. Nano-termites have been placed in the lining of your throat. In the event of sickness they freeze the waste' she explained as she brought up a metal dish, which Adam placed the frozen sick into. They both peered at it, and Adam thought he was going to be sick again. If the Doctor found out what he had done, he'd kill him! But he wouldn't be caught if he was careful, and after all, no pain no gain! That was his only thought as he thanked the nurse, and fled to the lift. This was it, time he made history!

…

It had taken a while, but the Doctor had finally managed to hack into the mainframe. A small screen hidden amongst the wires had popped out and he turned it towards Cathica.

'Here we go, Satellite Five. Pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout' he ordered her, moving back slightly as she moved forwards to see. She closely examined the screen.

'This is ridiculous. You've got access to the computer's core. You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange… and you're looking at pipes?' she turned to him in completely bemusement.

'But there's something wrong' he told her, and she turned back to the screen to try and figure out what he meant. Her eyes widened as she got it.

'I suppose…' she said thoughtfully, clearly thinking it through. Maybe there was hope for her yet.

'Why, what is it?' Rose asked.

'The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out... channelling massive amounts of heat DOWN' she explained, and they all looked up towards the ceiling, or more accurately, Floor 500.

'All the way from the top' the Doctor nodded.

'Floor 500' Rose realised.

'Something up there is generating tonnes and tonnes of heat' the Doctor smiled slightly.

'Well, I'm not sure about you two, but I feel like I'm missing out on a killer party, everything's happening up there, so fancy a look?' Craig grinned excitedly at them.

'You can't, you need a key' Cathica told them.

'Keys are just codes, and I've got the codes right here' the Doctor countered, gesturing at the screen and tapping a few keys.

'Here we go, override 215.9' he said as the number appeared on the screen.

'How come it's giving you the code?' Cathica cried indignantly. It was like everybody but her could get there today, it wasn't fair! The Doctor turned and looked up at a security camera hanging from the ceiling that Rose and Craig hadn't noticed before. It was trained right on them.

'Someone up there likes me' he commented, not knowing that so many floors up he was causing a man to chuckle slightly sinisterly. Suddenly the lift door opened and the three of them stepped calmly inside, but Cathica looked hesitantly at them from the door.

'Come on, come with us!' Rose tried to encourage her.

'No way!' she shortly replied, clearly she wasn't the type to look for trouble.

'Bye!' the Doctor waved at her. He wasn't going to waste any more time on trying to get Cathica to open her narrowed mind.

'Well, don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me!' she pleadingly told them before she began to stalk away, and out of sight.

'That's her gone. Adam's given up. Looks like it's just you, me and Craig' the Doctor looked down at Rose.

'Yeah' she smiled.

'Good' he nodded.

Just how I like it' Craig smirked as he broke their moment. The three grinned at each other whilst the Doctor slotted a card into the controls, before grabbing Rose's hand, whilst Craig held her other one. The doors shut, and they were heading up, into what, they didn't know.

…

When the lift came to a halt and the doors dinged open a few minutes later, the Doctor, Rose, and Craig all stepped quietly out and looked around. The room they were in was very dark, and the floor was covered in snow, the walls were frozen with ice, and there was nothing gold in sight.

'It's very cold and I see no gold' Craig rhymed jokingly.

'You should both go back downstairs' the Doctor warned after a few moments of silence.

'Tough' Rose stated, speaking for her brother and herself. She briskly strode across onto Floor 500, not seeing the amused expression on Craig's face as the Doctor watched her stubbornness. They swiftly followed her, and came into an area with several people working at computers, sitting at desks. A man stood watching the staff, his thumb under his chin in a thoughtful pose. He had blonde short spiky hair, bright blue eyes, and wearing a black suit and a blue shirt and tie.

'I started without you' he laughed in greeting as they hovered at the other end of the monitors. The three remained silent for now, best to just let him talk.

'This is fascinating. Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but YOU three… you don't exist!' he said disbelievingly. They just stared back at him silently.

'Not a trace! No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?' he asked intrigued. Suddenly Rose noticed who one of the staff members was and ran over to her.

'Suki! Suki!' she cried, kneeling next to her but getting no reply.

'Hello? Can you hear me? Suki? What've you done to her?' she demanded from the man.

'I think she's dead' the Doctor said mournfully. He'd really liked her, she reminded him a little of Rose and Craig, their sweet personalities were just like hers.

'She's working…' Rose said blankly. It was disgusting, the idea of your body still going with no life inside, Sick! She shuddered as she remembered the Gelth in Cardiff, but this was even worse!

'They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going. Like puppets' the Doctor spat.

'Ohhhh! You're full of information! But it's only fair we get information back, because apparently, you're no-one' he laughed and the Doctor nodded knowingly.

'It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?' he asked quietly.

'It doesn't matter, 'cause we're off. Nice to meet you. Come on' he ordered Rose as he began to pull Craig away. But it was too late, and a moment later two of the bodies grabbed the Doctor, Craig tried to pull them off but another grabbed him, and as Rose had tried to get up, Suki's body grabbed her arm and she couldn't break free, they were stuck.

'Tell me who you are!' the man said persistently.

'Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly gonna say, am I?' the Doctor snapped.

'Who are _you_ anyway, the boss man?' Craig spoke up.

'Well, I am the Editor, or at least the HUMAN editor, and if you won't say, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise' he smiled creepily.

'And who's that?' the Doctor demanded.

'It may interest you to know that this is NOT the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live' the Editor smirked, before a strange noise filled the room, a kind hissing and roaring and snarling voice. It sounded quite angry as well.

'Yeah, sorry. It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client' the Editor amended. He suddenly snapped his fingers and pointed upwards and Craig and Rose both gasped. Attached to the ceiling, hanging down was a huge brown creature. It was kind of shapeless, just filling the space. It was slobbering from it wide fang filled mouth, his beady eyes narrowed at them as it hissed.

What the hell is that?' Craig cried fearfully.

'You mean, that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?' the Doctor asked in a stunned voice.

'That 'thing' - as you put it - is in charge of the human race' the Editor corrected, and the three of them turn back to him in alarm. That creepy thing was in charge over all humanity?! So NOT good!

'For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by its broadcast news. Edited by my superior, your master, and humanities guiding light… the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe' he said proudly, raising his arms almost worshippingly towards the creature, which roared again loudly.

'I call him Max' the Editor turned back to them with a smug grin. The Doctor grinned sarcastically and nodded.

'Max, very cute' Craig scoffed slightly. This was so not good. That thing was literally in charge of the earth and they didn't even know it! And they'd just walked willing into its jaws, this was so very NOT Fantastic!

…

Meanwhile, back on Floor 139, Adam was walking down the corridor when he was forced to duck back and hid. Cathica was briskly walking past him. Once he was sure she hadn't seen him, he watched her from away.

He noticed she looked troubled as she walked over to a lift door, which he noticed looked kind of ragged, like someone had broken into it, before she tapped on a keypad and the door close.

He vaguely wondered where she was going, but then shrugged it off. He was busy himself after all, and he needed to do this before the Doctor, Rose or Craig found him. With a smile lining his mouth, he hurried to put his plan into action. This was going to be excellent, oh so excellent!

**...**

**And there it is! Yep, I gave Adam the word 'Excellent' rather than 'Fantastic' just to show him as being different to the Doctor, Rose and Craig, plus it seemed necessary since I added his bits in. I've decided that once a person has had an episode and became a companion I'm doing their bits too, so eventually Jack, Mickey, Martha and Donna will all get their persectives written too. Other then that, please review, oh and if you like spoilers I'd check out my other Doctor Who story since chapter three has some for the end of this and season two! Hope you enjoyed!**


	48. The Long Game, A Golden Enigma

**Hey readers! Hope you're well and enjoying this : ) So here's the last part of 'The Long Game' and has a little more spoliers in the ongoing Craig subplot. We also see his reaction to Adam, which several of you have mentioned so I hope they live up to your expectations. Oh, and by the way, my other Doctor Who adventure called 'The Sky Kindgom' is finished so please give it a read. Other than that please note that Doctor Who is not mine, but Craig Tyler is : ) Read on at your own risk, because somebody is playing a very long game...**

**The Long Game – A Golden Enigma**

The Doctor, Rose and Craig had all valiantly struggled but to no avail. The Editor had ordered for them to be handcuffed to one of the computer stands, and that was exactly what had happened. They were all restrained with large black manacles. All the whilst the Editor was walking oh so smugly in front of them, pacing up and down as he gloated.

'If we create a climate of fear… then it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a matter of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilize an economy… invent an enemy… change a vote…' he smiled as he thought about exactly how much power they had over the humans down on Earth.

'So, all the people on Earth are like, slaves' Rose asked pretending to sound interested. She hated that guy, he was like Van Statten in a different time, only worse, if that was possible!

'Well, now. There's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?' he asked cleverly.

'Yes' the Doctor spat harshly.

'Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? 'Yes'?' the Editor sounded disappointed.

'Yes' the Doctor smugly repeated and the Editor laughed.

'You're no fun' he pretended to pout.

'Let me out of these manacles, you'll find out how much fun I am' he threatened.

'Oh, he's tough, isn't he. But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit' the Editor pressed on.

'But you can't hide something like this, the scale of this someone must have noticed something' Craig pointed out.

'From time to time, someone, yes. But the computer system allows me to see inside their brain... I can see the smallest doubt, and crush it' he grinned menacingly.

'And then they just carry on, living their life. Strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth like they're SO individual' he continued. He didn't see that behind him, Cathica had entered the room, but the Doctor had, just in the corner of his eye. She'd come to help, but she'd chosen not to reveal herself yet, a wise move for now.

'When of course, they're not. They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing' he smirked.

'What about you? You're not a Jagra… uh… a…' Rose struggled to name the creature.

'Jagrafess' the Doctor supplied.

'Jagrafess. You're not a Jagrafess. You're human' she observed. What had made this man so cold and uncaring about his own race, the traitor!

'Yeah, well simply being human doesn't pay very well' he snipped.

'Money, it always comes back to money, I'm telling you it's evil' Craig sighed.

'But you couldn't have done this all on your own' Rose continued.

'No! I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to um… install himself' the Editor smiled slightly.

'That's gross' Craig retched at the image of the Editor… sticking that… blob of goo to the ceiling.

'No wonder, a creature that size' the Doctor commented. He saw Cathica gasp slightly as she looked up and saw the Jagrafess.

'What's his life span?' he asked curiously.

'Three thousand years' the Editor said proudly.

'Three thousand years of that thing?' Craig cried.

'That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. That's why Satellite Five's so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs, Jagrafess stays cool, stays alive. Satellite Five's one great big life support system' the Doctor realised. It was all beginning to piece together, but now, he needed to way to get them out, and so far he had none. But he'd find it, he always had, and he always would, they just had to think.

…

Down on Floor 139, Adam nervously poked him head into the Spike Room, grinning when he found it empty. He scurried over to the chair and excitedly hopped into it. He pulled out Rose's phone and dialled his home number again.

'Me again. Don't wipe this message. It's just gonna sound like white noise, but save it because I can translate it. Okay? Three, two, one… and spike' he felt his head open as the machine activated, and it started, his plan to make his name in history, as all the information in the new world flowed through his brain. He started shaking slightly. It wasn't painful, just sort of tingling, it felt kind of nice.

But then it changed, the flow of knowledge was reserving somehow, he could feel it. Everything Rose had done for him, Craig telling him not to hurt her, the Tardis, the Doctor, all the memories were burning through his mind, and it hurt, oh god it hurt so much! He opened his mouth and began to scream, praying that someone would come and save him, anyone, even if it meant the Doctor or more likely Craig breaking his legs for what he had done.

…

'But THAT'S why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown' the Editor explained with a small sinister laugh, before he clicked his fingers.

Instantly the Doctor, Rose, and Craig all shuddered as electricity coursed through them, from their manacles. The Doctor and Rose were in so much pain that they didn't see Craig glowing a golden colour, but unfortunately for him, the Editor did.

'Ooh, that got a reaction, let me see' he grinned as he approached Craig, gently tipping his head back. His hair fell back to reveal his eyes, but they weren't his usual kind brown ones, they were burning gold like there was fire inside his mind, he looked so lost and in pain as he groaned.

'You… are something new, I wonder…' he trailed off as he turned around to the staff.

'Scan him again' he ordered, and one of the bodies began typing quickly. A photograph of Craig suddenly came onto the screen.

'Gotcha! Your name is Craig Oliver Tyler, oh and how interesting you are. Born March 26th 1986, Parents Peter Alan Tyler and Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler formally Prentice, younger sibling Rose Marion Tyler ' he read of the screen as the surge kept coursing through them. They were in such pain they couldn't hear what he was saying at all.

'1986? That's thousands of years ago, how could you be here? And look, you pop up through history so many times, over the course of a thousand hundred years and more, always disappearing and reappearing when the Earth's in trouble, you truly are a little enigma, aren't you Craig?' he grinned as he turned around, before he remembered he'd left the electricity on. He clicked his fingers again and it stopped. The three of them panted heavily for air.

'Who are you?' he asked. He decided to play dumb with the information he'd found about the mysterious Craig for now, it would be his ace for latter.

'Leave them alone. I'm the Doctor, she's Rose Tyler and he's her brother Craig, we're nothing, we're just wandering' the Doctor shakily told him.

'Tell me who you are!' he demanded again. He wanted to know exactly what Mr Craig Tyler was. He'd stopped glowing now and none of them had noticed, but somehow he'd live for thousands of years, popping up again and again through history, it was like he was an eternal soldier or something.

'I just said!' the Doctor panted.

'Yeah, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly…' he stopped as information begin to pound through his master chip. He was about to ask about Craig, when the answer suddenly appeared to him.

The Doctor looked at The Editor questioningly, and he just smiled in response.

'Time Lord' he realised. It all made sense, the smartness of the Doctor, and how Craig could be all over history, but it didn't explain about the glowing, what was Craig?

'What?' the Doctor asked in fear, how the hell could he have known?!

'Oh, yes! The last of the Time Lords in his travelling machine. Oh, with his little human friends from long ago…' he mocked as he gently touched their faces, only for them to jerk their heads away roughly. He kept a hand on Craig's cheek, looking into his defiant eyes. They were brown again, and the gold light had left no trace. He sighed as he took his hand away.

'I don't know what you're talking about' the Doctor tried to play dumb. He was curious about the way the Editor had been looking at Craig, like he'd known something he hadn't let on yet. He wondered if it had something to do with that DNA scan from the other day.

'Time travel' the Editor smirked as he back off from the blonde man.

'Someone's been telling you lies' the Doctor futilely tried.

'Young master Adam Mitchell?' he sneered and snapped his finger. In front of them a projection of Adam in the Spike Room downstairs faded into the air. It showed a stream of information burning into him, and he was writhing in agony and screaming.

'Oh, my God… his head!' Rose gasped.

'What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done?' the Doctor cried angrily.

'You told him to live the experience' Craig reminded him.

'Yeah, but not to get brain surgery!' the Doctor snapped.

'They're reading his mind. He's telling them everything!' he cried furiously. That boy had been nothing but trouble. But what would have caused him to get his head done, and then the answer hit him. The same thing as all apes wanted, fame, money! He'd kill him when he got them out of there!

'And through him, I know everything about you. Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Doctor' the Editor grinned before turning to Craig.

'And you, with your little night light glow, you could prove most useful to have by my side Mr Tyler' he breathed on the blonde man's neck and he shuddered. Why did he always attract the creeps?!

'You what, what light?' the Doctor demanded to know as Craig moved his head away. The Editor turned to grin at the man he knew was a Time Lord.

'None of your business. You might be a Time Lord but you're not the lord of me. But the Human Empire is tiny compared to what you've seen in your T-A-R-D-I-S – TARDIS' the Editor sneered.

'You'll never get your hands on it. I'll die first' the Doctor warned.

'Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key' he sneered and they watched on the project as Rose's key floated out of Adam's jeans pocket and dangled by his head.

'You and your boyfriends!' the Doctor rounded on Rose.

'Oi, it's not her fault Adam's a prat' Craig defended his sister.

'Today, WE are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing. And I might find out exactly what you are, my little enigma' he grinned down at Craig.

'And no-one's gonna stop you. Because you've bred a human race that doesn't bother to ask questions. Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They'll just trot right into the slaughter house if they're told it's made of gold' the Doctor spat harshly. He vaguely wondered what the Editor meant when he called Craig an enigma, but for now he had more pressing matters to attend to. He had indirectly aimed this bit to Cathica who he could tell was still watching, and even from a distance he could see her determined expression, it told him that she wanted to put a stop to this. She walked out of sight, and a few minutes later, an alarm started blaring.

'What's happening?' the Editor cried in surprize. Suddenly on the projection the flow in power into Adam stopped and he breathed deeply in relieve as the key dropped to the floor.

'Someone's disengaged the safety' the Editor realised. He clicked his fingers and the projection changed to an image of Cathica on a chair with the compressed information flowing into her mind. The wall behind her was glittering with ice. She was clearly on the same floor as them.

'Who's that?!' he cried in confusion.

'It's Cathica!' Rose cried happily.

'And she's thinking. She's using what she knows!' the Doctor beamed. She was actually not all that bad; she just needed a bit of help getting there. She was better than Adam at any rate!

'Terminate her access' the Editor rounded on Suki's working body.

'Everything I told her about Satellite Five, the pipes, the filters, she's reversing it!' he grinned proudly.

'Look over there' Craig cried. The icicles hanging from the ceiling were beginning to drip; the snow on the floor was starting to melt.

'It's getting hot' the Doctor realised.

'I said, terminate!' the Editor spat as he places his own hands on the pad, over Suki's in his bid to regain control of the situation.

'Burn out her mind' he ordered, but it seemed to have the reverse affect, or maybe it was Cathica's own determination steaming through as the screens all began to explode in a shower of sparks, and the drones all fell to the floor, finally their bodies at rest. A spark hit Rose's manacles, and they began to fall away. She began to struggle with them, trying to remove them as they started to become loose.

'She's venting the heat up here. The Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it's sitting on top of a volcano' the Doctor beamed proudly.

'Well if it can't stand the heat it shouldn't be in the kitchen' Craig joked as the Jagrafess roared and flailed around violently as the Doctor laughed.

'Yes! Uh... I'm trying, sir but, I don't know how she did it, it's impossible. A member of staff with an idea…' the Editor was cut off with another angry roar. He pushed Suki's body out of the chair and she slumped to the floor as he desperately tried to operate the himself. Behind him, Rose finally managed to free herself, before turning to the doctor and digging through his jacket, she pulled out the sonic screwdriver.

'What do I do?' she cried in panic.

'Flick the switch!' the Doctor cried exasperatedly. Rose did just that, and the screwdriver buzzed. She nearly dropped it as she jumped when a small explosion went off near them. She managed to release the Doctor, and after giving it back to him, he used the sonic to free Craig. He gave them both a quick hug before turning to the Editor.

'Oi, mate, wanna bank on a certainty? Massive heat in a massive body. Massive bang!' he grinned as large lumps of flesh began raining down from the Jagrafess.

'See you in the headlines!' he went to run as the Jagrafess started to pulsate horrible, glowing a blotchy red. Rose stumbled and fell over as the whole room shook, and he hurried to help her to her feet, which wasn't easy with all the shaking. Craig made to go help, but the Editor grabbed him from behind.

'I don't think so! You're sticking with me gorgeous; and together we'll find out exactly what you are' he breathed in his ear, almost seductively.

'Yeah, I don't think so sweety' Craig hissed and pushed him back, where he fell to the floor. He wasn't going to let any guy force himself on him ever again, and with that thought in mind, he grabbed the Doctor and Rose's hands, and the three of them began to run. Overhead the Jagrafess growled at the Editor, who turned to look up at him.

'Um… actually, sir… if it's all the same to you, I think I'll resign. Bye, then!' he cried as he jumped to his feet and made to flee, but Suki grabbed his ankle, tripping him and preventing his escape.

'Let go of me!' he growled as he tugged on his ankle. That was the last words Craig heard him say as he and the Doctor and Rose managed to get back into the corridor, dodging around the large icicles raining down like daggers. They made it to the floor's Spike Chamber, where information was still steaming into Cathica's brain as from the other end of the floor there was a resounding explosion and a scream with sounded like the Editor's, and then there was silence.

The Doctor clicked his fingers and the door in Cathica's head closed, the information steam cutting off. She panted deeply and looked up at the Doctor, who smiled warmly down at her.

'Come on, time we got out' he smiled slightly, helping her to her feet, and together they walked slowly into the lift, and out of the floor with the legendary golden walls.

…

As the doors opened on Floor 139, everyone was recovering from the commotion, chatting wildly between themselves as the picked fallen objects off the ground. When the Jagrafess had exploded the entire satellite must have shuddered or something, Craig thought as he looked around. He was lost in thought about the Editor. Not his sort of weird advances to him, but the way he had looked and talked to him, it felt weird. He'd called him an enigma and said they'd find out what he was, what the hell did that mean? He was human! But the DNA scan had told him he was changing, had the Editor known, it wasn't impossible he could have found something out about him and not let on about it. He shook his head, filing the thought away for later. He was leaning against the bar with Rose, the Doctor and Cathica in front of them talking quietly.

'We're just gonna go. I hate tidying up. Too many questions. You'll manage' he assured her.

'You'll have to stay and explain it, no-one's gonna believe me' she countered.

'Oh, they might start believing a lot of things now. The Human Race should accelerate. All back to normal' he smiled in response and she nodded slightly, before she glanced over to the right. They all turned and saw her looking at Adam, who was loitering near the Tardis.

'What about your friend?' she asked and the Doctor's face hardened into a frown.

'He's not my friend' he spat softly as he began to walk away, striding determinedly towards the Tardis, glaring at Adam.

'Now, don't…' Rose started but sighed, he wasn't going to listen. She smiled at Cathica and rushed off after him.

'Thanks Cathica, for everything, and remember, always ask questions' Craig hurriedly nodded at her, and when she smiled slightly, he took off after the Doctor and Rose. He caught up as they reached Adam.

'I'm all right now. Much better. I've got the key' Adam smiled holding said key up, along with Rose's mobile.

'Well, it's… I know… it all worked out for the best, didn't it?' he laughed nervously under the Doctor murderous glare. He turned pleadingly to Rose and Craig, but he was out of luck. Rose's face remained indifferent, and Craig's looked furious. His baby sister had trusted this man and had wanted to show him the specialness of the universe, and he'd betrayed that trust. As far as Craig was concerned, Adam deserved everything the Doctor could throw at him.

The Doctor snatched the key and the phone from his hands and returned them to their rightful owner Rose, before he grabbed Adam by the scuff of the neck, pushing him into the Tardis.

'You know, it's not actually my fault, because YOU were in charge…' Adam tried to wheedle his way out of it before a loud slap out him off. Craig was red in the face as he raised his hand again threateningly.

'Don't you DARE blame the Doctor for your stupidity, you betrayed Rose, she tried to show you the amazing universe around you and you abused it, so don't you dare blame the Doctor' he hissed and Adam gulped as he rubbed his sore cheek, only to get a slap around his other cheek. Craig then proceeded to wrap his hands around his throat, cutting of his air and causing Adam to start gagging. He wouldn't go too far, he wasn't like that, but Craig sure got the famous Tyler Temper, and boy had Adam made him lose it.

'Now Craig, please refrain from choking him' the Doctor told him, just Rose joined them in the Tardis and silently shut the door.

'Thank you' Adam choked out to the Doctor as Craig's hands fell away and his airway was restored.

'I'll handle this' the Doctor spat as he furiously began working the controls, and a moment later he grabbed Adam again and pushed past them, forcing him out of the Tardis. They had landed in a cream and brown styled room with a large sofa and green curtains. Several pictures of dog hung on the wall and a glass coffee table gave the room a homey look.

'It's my house! I'm home! Oh, my God, I'm home!' Adam looked stunned. The Doctor and Craig just glared at him.

'Blimey. I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock' he chuckled slightly.

'You'd deserve it' Craig spat venomously.

'Is there something else you want to tell me?' the Doctor decided to give him one final chance to come clean.

'No. Um... what do you mean?' Adam replied nervously. Right the idiot had had his chance; he'd get what he deserved now! The Doctor thought as he pulled out the sonic screwdriver and picked up a white telephone on a cabinet.

'The archive of Satellite Five. One second of that message could've changed the world' he snapped, and Adam looked rather like a child with his hand in a cookie jar. The doctor replaced the phone on the wooden cabinet, before turning the sonic on it. Adam looked ready to protest, but the glare Craig was sending him was enough to shut him up. The phone sparked and exploded as the Doctor destroyed it beyond repair, and all three humans flinched back slightly.

'That's it, then. See ya' the Doctor said briskly as he walked back over to the Tardis door.

'How do you mean, 'see ya'?' Adam cried bewilderedly.

'You know see ya, as in goodbye' Craig scoffed. He couldn't really expect them to let him stay now.

'But… what about me? You can't just go, I've got my head, I've got a chip type two, my head opens' Adam protested. They couldn't just leave him like this, he'd be experimented on!

'What, like this?' the Doctor taunted, clicking his fingers causing Adam's head to open.

'Don't' he snapped angrily as he shut it again.

'Don't do what?' the Doctor mocked, clicking his fingers again.

'Stop it!' he ordered as he closed it again.

'Why? You wanted it so much, enough to betray Rose?' Craig spat at him, clicking his own fingers. How dare this man argue, he'd betrayed his baby sister, even after he'd warned him, and he had the nerve to whine about something he himself had got done to him, that prat!

'Stop doing that!' Adam yelled, closing it again.

'Alright now you two, that's enough. Stop it' Rose told them gently. The men both backed down, but still glared daggers at Adam.

'Thank you' he said to her, but spoke too soon as Rose clicked her own fingers, and Craig burst into laughter at her style.

'Oi!' he protested.

'Sorry, I couldn't resist' she sniggered as Adam closed it again.

'The whole of history could've changed because of you' the Doctor snarled at him.

'I just wanted to help' Adam apologised.

'You were helping yourself' the Doctor said sadly. There were too many humans like Adam, and not enough like his Rose and his Craig.

'And… I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry, and I am, I really am , but you can't just leave me like this' he begged.

'Yes I can. 'Cos if you show your head to anyone, they'll dissect you in seconds. You'll have to live a very quiet life. Keep out of trouble. Be average. Unseen. Good luck' he snorted as he opened the Tardis door.

'But I wanna come with you!' Adam pleaded and the Doctor turned back to him. he was about to tell him exactly where he could go for all he cared, but Craig spoke up first and cut over him.

'Oh no, if he comes with us again I'm leaving, I'm gone! It's either him or me' Craig shouted furiously. He knew that was low, but there was absolutely no way he was travelling with the man who had left his baby sister with a Dalek and then had later betrayed her further, no way!

The Doctor and Rose had absolutely no difficulty in choosing one of them, there was no contest at all, which was too bad for Adam.

'I only take the best. I've got Rose and Craig, and they are the very best' the Doctor smiled proudly at them, just as the sounds of the front door opening could be heard. The Doctor stepped into the Tardis without looking back, and Craig followed suit after one last angry glare.

'Oh my God' Adam's eyes widened.

'Who's that? Geoff? Is that you?' a woman's voice asked from the other side of the wall.

'It's me, mum, don't come in, wait there a minute' Adam called back.

'Oh, my Lord! You never told me you were coming home!' the woman cried delightedly. Rose watched his embarrassed face, grinning at him teasingly with her famous Rose tongue in teeth grin.

'Hold on, I'll just take my coat off. You should've told me you were coming home. I would've got your favourite tea in' she gushed on. She'd be in the room any second.

'Rose… take me with you' he begged. But it was no good, she knew she couldn't trust him now, and anyway, it hadn't been Adam that she wanted, she realised that now since he had pointed it out. Plus, if it really came down to it, she'd definitely rather have Craig with her and the Doctor any day of the week, her big brother over this… man. She looked at him for what he was, a stranger, a man she'd never truly seen before, and ignoring his pleading look, she stepped into the Tardis without a backwards glance.

Adam sighed as the Tardis faded away. His one chance to see the universe and he'd blown it, hurt a very special woman in the process, and for that he deserved this punishment, and he'd regret his actions for the rest of his life.

'Hey, I'll tell ya… what's that noise? Have you left the back door open? BLIMEY, there's a draft' his mum cried just as the Tardis vanished completely, opening the door. In she came with her dark hair, her white jumper and brown trousers, a delighted grin on her fair face.

'What a surprise. Ah, let me look at you. Ah, six months' she smiled softly which he returned, although his was a bit fixed. He nodded at her words.

'It's like I saw you yesterday. Isn't it funny? The time goes by like 'that'' she said, clicking her fingers. Her jaw dropped as his head opened, and he sighed as she fainted and fell to the floor. This was going to be a very long lifetime, and he only had himself to blame. He was never going to get this taken out of his head, and the Doctor, Rose and Craig weren't ever going to come back. He'd blown it all. But he could at least try to make amends, do the right thing for others and the Earth from now on, and that was what Adam Mitchell spent the rest of his life doing, a lifetime of penance for his crimes.

…

'Are you sure you're alright' Craig asked for the third time as he hugged his little sister close.

'Yes, I'm fine. Adam's certainly going to pay the price for his betrayal, anyway, he's not the man I want' she assured him. She couldn't help but slyly peer at the man she knew she really wanted now, but thankfully, the Doctor hadn't noticed.

'He deserved it anyway, hurting you after I specifically warned him not too!' Craig cried indignantly. He wished the Doctor hadn't stopped him. He wanted to give Adam a very good kick to match those slaps!

'Well we're not going back to help him' the Doctor said determinedly.

'No way, like I said, he deserves it' Rose agreed and they all fell silent. They were sitting in the kitchen; Rose had just finished making them some tea and coffee, using the last of the milk up. Thankfully there was one other bottle in the fridge, but that wouldn't last too long.

'You know, we'll need to go back to our time and stock up, we're running out of nearly everything' she commented as she put the empty bottle in the bin.

'We'll be alright for a few more days though, and I hate shopping' the Doctor replied and Craig laughed slightly at him. That comment was so him!

'In a few days then yeah?' he asked and they both nodded.

'Well, after that day I'm ready for bed, nighty night' she smiled as she finished her tea and washed up her cup.

'And you're sure you're alright about that jerk' Craig asked one more time and she laughed.

'Yes Big Bro, I'm so far over him I'm in space whilst he's on Earth, so stop worrying' she grinned as she kissed him on the cheek, waved at the Doctor, and exited the room. Craig sighed slightly as he drank some of his coffee.

'You OK?' the doctor asked him.

'Yeah, I'm fine, just the Editor, he called me an enigma, said I was like a light, what do you think he meant?' he asked quietly.

'No idea' the Doctor sighed. He'd been thinking about this too.

'I wish I knew what was wrong with me' Craig said sadly.

'I'll take care of you Craig, I promise, I'll protect you from this' the Doctor reassured him. He smiled and nodded, he trusted the Doctor with his life and if he said he'd look after him, look after him he would.

'You're right, there's nothing you me and Rose can't face together, night Doctor' he finished his drink and washed up his cup before copying his sister, and retiring to his room for the night.

The doctor let out a low sigh as he got up and returned to the control room. He went straight to the screen and began fiddling with it. He'd taken the Tardis into the vortex to relax, but what Rose and Craig didn't know was that they were in the bit of the vortex right near to Satellite Five on the day they'd left. He pressed some buttons and hacked into the satellite's security cameras, one camera in particular, the one of Floor 500.

He watched as he, Rose, and Craig were all handcuffed up, the Editor gloating before the electric shocks started. That was the bit he couldn't remember, he'd been in too much pain, but whatever the Editor had discovered had to have been then. His eyes widened as Craig began to glow gold ever so slightly.

The Editor noticed this, looking into his golden eyes, and scanned him, managing to find him all the way back in the twenty first century. Who his parents were and who Rose was to him. And he said that Craig cropped up in history time and time again, but that had to be because of the Tardis, surely! And that glow must have something to do with Craig's mutating DNA.

He sighed, the Editor was right about one thing, Craig was an enigma. But he was sure that as time went on it would unravel this mystery, he just prayed it wouldn't be too late to save Craig. With one last sigh, he turned the footage off and went to his own room, his worry for his friend great indeed.

**...**

**And there's The Long Game, yay : ) Now, I know some of you are looking forward to Father's Day, but sadly it is not the next adventure you'll see. It's time for another 'new' adventure, and I'll give you a little spoiler, this time it's a cross-over : ) It's called 'Vanished' and is personally a favourite own adventure of mine. But it might be a while before it's up, since in my other Craig Tyler story there's an adventure set right after this chapter called 'The Blame Game' so please go take a look at that. Read on and as always, review please ; )**


	49. Vanished, Meeting The Team of NCIS

**Hey Readers! Got a special treat with this chapter, seeing as it is my first official Cross-Over in the season and is the longest chapter to date : ) So a while ago I was watching NCIS since it is one of my favourite ever programs, and then I thought about Season Two's episode Vanished. Then I had the bulb moment and thought 'Why not include it in my Craig Tyler story?' and so here it is, Vanished with The Doctor, Rose, and Craig. As always Doctor Who is not mine, and in this case neither is NCIS or it's characters. The only thing I own is Craig Tyler : )**

**...**

**Vanished**

**Vanished – Meeting The Team Of N.C.I.S**

The entire control room was swaying from side to side as the Tardis flew through the vortex, with the Doctor, Rose, and Craig all hanging on as tight as they could.

'Must the ride always be this bumpy' Craig shouted as the controls began to spark a little. He was wearing a dark green hoodie and a pair of really baggy black jeans.

'It makes it more fun' the Doctor shrugged before he fell out of sight as the Tardis clanged to a stop. The three of them had been through to the floor as usual. Today he was wearing a blue jumper under his leather jacket with his usual black trousers.

'Oh, my back, it's a wonder none of us have got an injury of that yet' Rose stood up clutching her back. She was wearing a light red hoodie, a pink T-shirt, and a pair of blue jeans.

'Stop moaning' the Doctor cried at the pair of them, causing them both to laugh, which he quickly joined in with. They were soon stepping out of the door and they quickly closed it behind them.

'So where are we?' Rose was the first to ask as she looked around. They were at the edge of some kind of field, a corn field, and there was quite a fair bit of noise in the distance. They looked up as a huge black helicopter flew overhead, almost deafening them.

'West Virginia, America, and the date is… October 19th 2004' the Doctor replied checking his watch.

'God, just think, in a few months we're going to meet you' Craig realised.

'And disappear for a year' Rose noted sadly.

'Yeah, but at least Jackie knows you're alright now though' the Doctor said to cheer her up.

'I guess you're right' she nodded before smiling, looping her arms through his as they set off at a slow walk. Craig smiled next to them. Those two had so fallen for each other; it was so obvious, except to them. They were both so dense.

They began to push through way through the huge corn stalks, which wasn't easy considering it was literally like forest entangling them, before they came to a strange kind of clearing, but it wasn't a clearing at all. All the stalks had been flattened in a big circle, a perfect circle, that wasn't a natural occurrence, something had to have done that purposely.

'That's odd, all the corn's flat here' the Doctor thought aloud, kneeling down.

'What's done that though' Rose asked as she knelt down with the Doctor for a closer look. She looked into the middle and noticed a sort of pattern. Craig just looked around, still stand at full height, before he noticed something in the distance and walked towards it, disappearing back into the still standing corn.

'Hang on though, look, look there in the middle, all the corn was flattened in a sort of swirl' she pointed it out to the Doctor.

'Good point, so, why would anybody flatten a load of corn in this type of pattern, or at all' he wondered.

'Maybe you should do a scan with the Sonic Screwdriver' she suggested, and without even acknowledge she had spoken, he did exactly what she had told him. he pulled out the sonic and pointed it at the ground, but as he looked at the results he frowned.

'Weird, no elements of any alien contact, something human made this circle' he frowned. What motive would a human have to cut a great big circle out of a field? Seemed a bit counterproductive to him, crushing all that corn to the point it couldn't be eaten.

'OVER HERE!' Craig's voice suddenly yelled to them. They both leapt to their feet and ran in the direction of his voice, worried he had walked into trouble, but as they pushed their way through the corn stalks, they found him standing in another circle, this one slightly larger.

'Another one, what are these things?' Rose asked curiously. The Doctor was about to reply, when the sound of a gun safety clicking stopped him. They all turned to the source of the noise, their arms already raised in surrender.

'You idiot' Craig sighed softly. The Doctor always led them into places with guns, big bad men with big guns, and it really wasn't funny.

'It's always my fault isn't it' the Doctor chuckled. He really couldn't see how he could predict it this time, but then again, it was more fun that way.

'Shut up and stand still' a man ordered, his gun trained between the three of them. They should be able to easily distract him enough to make their escape, the Doctor thought hopefully. The man was pale skinned with a buzz cut style haircut, and wearing a green and brown camouflage style jumpsuit. He was clearly some kind of soldier boy.

'INTRUDERS, BACK UP REQUIRED' he yelled and within second five more soldiers had surrounded them, their guns all pointed at them.

'Must it always be this way' Rose said softly and the three of them laughed.

'SHUT IT! MOVE. NOW!' the first soldier yelled at them, indicating with his gun for them to move, and with a look and nod at each other, the three of them moved on, two soldiers in the lead, two to the side, two behind. There was no way they could get away without been seen or shot. They were lead through even more corn, and into a third circle. This one was even bigger, and had one obvious difference to the other two. Sitting, still and silent in the middle of it, was a great black helicopter, and it looked to be abandoned.

'Colonel Teague Sir' the soldier called, and a man near to the helicopter turned and looked at them, his face turning to confusion as his eyes fell on the three of them. He began to walk over. He was tall and broad shouldered, with a buzz cut hair style. His eyes were blue and his mouth was set in a firm line.

'Stewardson, I said nobody gets past the cordon' he said disapprovingly.

'They didn't come past me Sir, and Johnson said that nobody past him, we've no idea where they came from, and even stranger… a big blue police box has got here too, and it wasn't there this morning' Stewardson, the man who had found them, told his senior officer, who frowned even more.

'Well they didn't just appear in a cloud of smoke Stewardson, go check the rest of the field and make sure there's no more of them. You three, who the hell are you?' he snapped at the three of them.

'Just like the Steward on Platform One' Craig chuckled and the Doctor and Rose laughed.

'NAMES' Teague shouted. How much like a soldier boy, to shout when they didn't get what they wanted.

'I'm the Doctor, this is Rose and Craig Tyler' the Doctor spoke up.

'Ok, what's your name, that's what I asked for not your rank' he said a bit calmer.

'Just the Doctor, that's what everyone calls me, but if you prefer you can call me John Smith' he shrugged. Craig looked at him curiously, and when Teague turned around to asked more questions to his officers, the Doctor whispered in his ear.

'I've used that name before, but it's not my actual name' he explained and Craig nodded. After all they had been through, John Smith wouldn't exactly be a name which sprang to mind if he tried to guess the Doctor's real one.

'My men swear you didn't pass them, how'd you get in here, this is a controlled scene' Teague turned back to them.

'Controlled scene? Why's it controlled?' the Doctor evasively asked.

'You're kidding right! You don't see the giant helicopter sitting in a crop circle?' he scoffed.

'Oh, crop circles? I hate crop circles' the Doctor sighed.

'I thought they'd be very you' Rose commented softly.

'They would be, if it was actually aliens behind it, plus I'd call them landing patterns. But no, in this case, no landing pattern or fuel energy, this was made by human hands' the Doctor replied whilst Teague just stared at them in confusion.

'What the hell are you lot on about, how'd you get in here, why are you here, who…' he was cut off in his barrage of questions as a grey car pulled up on a dirt track leading into the field where the yellow criminal investigation tape opened to allow access, followed by a large white van with the letters 'N. C. I. S' on the side in blue. Four people stepped out of the two vehicles and looked around. The driver of the car was a man, with streaky grey hair and bright blue eyes. Under a sort of black jacket uniform and cap he was wearing a greyish brown jacket over a navy blue shirt and white T-shirt. His trousers were black and his expression was held in a very neutral position. He had a definite air of authority around him, the type of air which Craig was beginning to associate with trouble. He was talking to a woman who was climbing out of the passenger side.

She was a very pretty young woman with long brown hair pinned back behind her ears and flowing down to her shoulders under a cap like the man's. She was wearing a pink blouse under a camel brown jacket, which she wore under a black jacket also like the man's. Her trousers were a reddish brown colour. The pair was soon joined by the two who had got out of the van.

They were both men, and the driver was tall with short spiky brown hair before he put his cap on. Under his black jacket he wore a stripy blue shirt and brown trousers. He was talking to the other guy who had shortly cropped hair and happy round face. He was wearing a black suit jacket and trousers, under which is a blue work shirt and are tie. His own uniform jacket was currently being zipped up as they four people talked to each other, but they were so far away the Doctor, Rose and Craig couldn't hear them, of course the fact that another huge helicopter was flying over them didn't help. The group began to slowly walk towards them, or more specifically Teague.

'Lieutenant Colonel Curtis Teague, Squadron C.O., HMLA-167' Teague said as a greeting.

'Gibbs, NCIS' the grey haired man, Gibbs, replied simply.

'Colonel, your people have contaminated the scene' Gibbs said in a slightly scolding tone.

'I'm missing two men, Gibbs. I wasn't gonna sit on my ass and wait for NCIS to drive out from Washington' Teague defended himself.

'Yeah well, we're going to have to take elimination prints from all your people' Gibbs countered as he turned to face the Doctor, Rose and Craig, whilst Teague turned to face his officers who were in the circle.

'Stand down men. Let NCIS do their job, stand down' he ordered them.

'And who are you three?' Gibbs asked them. His three companions all faced them, and the Doctor, Rose, and Craig stared right back at them.

'That's what I was just trying to determine, got their names, nothing else yet' Teague spoke up for them.

'We'll need to take them back to headquarters with us' Gibbs said to Teague, not even bothering to look at them. The nerve, just assuming they'd go with him!

'Yeah, we're not going anywhere until we find out what's going on' the Doctor chipped in here, sick of being talked about like he and his friends weren't even there.

'And you are' the tall spiky haired man asked.

'The Doctor' he shrugged.

'He asked for name not rank' the woman put in sternly.

'The Doctor' he repeated and Craig and Rose could both see they were beginning to get annoyed with him, so they carefully hid their smirks.

'You can't be called 'The Doctor'' the round faced man stated firmly.

'Well, we just call him Doctor, skip the 'The' bit' Craig cheekily grinned and Rose couldn't help but laugh at her brother's words.

'He gave his name as John Smith. Those two are Rose and Craig Tyler, apparently' Teague put in, rolling his eyes, he clearly wasn't buying what they were saying at all.

'Well, Mr Smith' Gibbs started before he was cut off.

'Doctor, please, I hate being called Mr Smith' he shook his head. In his past bodies it hadn't bothered him, but now it really got on his nerves. But he supposed that was because Rose and Craig hadn't really questioned his name that much, another reason why he loved them so much, they fully accepted him as he was.

'Alright then, Doctor. We need to know why you and Mr and Miss Tyler were here and what's going on' he said firmly and they sighed.

'You could be witnesses' the woman put in.

'Sorry, what were your names' Rose asked her and the woman looked slightly coldly at her.

'Special Agents Todd, DiNozzo, McGee' she pointed them out in turn.

'Call me Tony' the spiky haired man, DiNozzo, shook her hand flirtatiously with a grin that could make girls go weak at the knees. The woman, Agent Todd, rolled her eyes slightly.

'We can't be witnesses, we've only just arrived when we saw the commotion' the Doctor made up to try and wiggle them out of it. He hated police investigations and all that, they were hardly ever right and they often caused unnecessary trouble.

'I can tell you that's not true now Gibbs, they were found near the second outer ring, most of my officers were still near this one' Teague shot him down, and Gibbs sighed slightly.

'Kate, Tony, take the Tylers and put them in the car, taking them back to headquarters' he told his agents. Instantly Rose and Craig raised their fists threateningly, but since their opponents had guns, they were easily outmatched. Kate grabbed onto a protesting Rose and cuffed her hands behind her back, whilst Tony wrestled with a struggling Craig, his eyes leaking when Craig kicked his shin hard but soon he had the blonde man's hands cuffed and restrained.

'YOU LET THEM GO! LET THEM GO NOW!' the Doctor yelled, making to go after them as they were dragged away, both kicking and screaming. Gibbs and the other agent, McGee, grabbed a hold of him and kept him back.

'DOCTOR' Rose screamed as she was pushed into the back of the car, along with Craig, and Tony and Kate got in the front. And moments later the car was being driven away, a distraught looking Rose and Craig on the back seat.

'ROSE! CRAIG!' he yelled after them, but no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't break away, and his two friends were taken away from him, again! The universe kept on trying to keep them apart, and he was getting sick of it. Sheets of Skin! Gelth! Creatures from outside the Universe! Slitheen! Daleks! Clockwork Men! Big Bird People! Blood Dragons!, Corrupt Prison Wardens! Jagrafess! Board Game Characters! and he was sick of it. But humans, Stupid Apes, they would not be the ones to take them away, he would not allow it!

…

'TAKE US BACK NOW!' Craig yelled as he thrashed about. Rose might have calmed down, but he was far from it. His face was red with anger, his arms and legs shaky as he struggled in vain.

'Enough! One more word and my finger will slip on my gun' Tony huffed in annoyance, after all Craig had been yelling the whole drive back and he was clearly getting a headache.

'Yeah! Well touch me or my sister and you'll need more than a gun mate' Craig spat back.

'Let's just try and calm down, yeah?' Kate intervened, clearly trying to diffuse the argument before it went any further.

'I'll be perfectly calm if you just let us go, it's not like we've even done anything' Craig told her.

'Listen, you were found, on a crime scene. It's our job to investigate that crime. If you're not involved you've nothing to worry about. It's not like we're going to hurt either of you' Tony added softly. Craig sighed and slumped back in his chair, a fair bit more relaxed but he was still looking angry. He turned to look at Rose, who face looked greatly saddened.

'I wish the Doctor was here' she whispered.

'So do I, but he'll be on his way, he'll find us' he replied quietly. He looked at of the window and saw a large yellow stoned building nearby, a small sigh stood out the front. On it in gold were the letters 'N. C. I. S'.

'What is NCIS anyway' Craig turned back round to their guards, who both sighed, just as Tony turned the wheel, taking them around the back.

'It never gets any less embarrassing' Tony sighed.

'Federal Agents cops. It stands for Navy Criminal Investigative Service' Kate explained.

'And you're investigating a crop circle?' Rose scoffed.

'We're investigating the disappearance of two marines. The helicopter was left abandoned in that crop circle' Tony explained as he drove them into a garage.

'Ok, a bit weird' Rose thought aloud. Why would two men just vanish and their helicopter be found sitting in a crop circle? The obvious answer was aliens, but the Doctor had said the crop circle had been made by humans, it made no sense!

'Very weird, and now I think you should tell us what you were doing there' Kate tried again.

'We're just travelling, that's all we are travellers, we just happened to come across the crop circle in the corn field, next thing we're bundling into the back of a cop car and brought here' Craig said angrily. He wanted to go back to the Doctor straight away, bad things always happened when they weren't with him, of course they still happened when they were with him, but at least he felt safer.

'Well how'd you past the cordon?' Kate asked.

'We just did, nobody stopped us, we were just looking around the field' Rose shrugged as they were let out of the car. They seemed to be in some kind of huge car garage or storage area. They were quickly led over to a lift and once they were all inside, Tony pressed a button and took them all up. Craig sighed, all he wanted was to get back to the Doctor, something odd was going on here, and he for once didn't think aliens were the cause of it.

…

'WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU TAKEN THEM?!' the Doctor demanded furious, spit flying in his rage. Gibbs just looked at him calmly but coolly.

'Don't worry, your friends will be fine, I just need to find out where my marines are and if you obstruct my investigation, well, without you your friends might be more co-operative' he shrugged.

'You didn't need to take them from me!' the Doctor protested.

'I give you my word they'll be fine' Gibbs assured him.

'They'd better be, because if anything happens to them, I'll tear the skies apart over this entire planet, and then I'll come for you, alright' he threatened. Gibbs just scoffed and opened his jacket slightly, revealing a gun on his belt.

'I won't hesitate' he stated.

'Like a gun would stop me' the Doctor replied stonily. Gibbs sighed, this was getting them nowhere. Time for a different tactic.

'Look at it this way, you help me, your friends will be released sooner. The longer this takes, the longer I'll have to hold them' he told him and the Doctor sighed slightly.

'You're word you won't hurt them?' he wanted to be sure. His Craig and his Rose were everything, he couldn't stand to let anybody else hurt them, it wasn't right, his humans meant everything to him. The thought even shocked himself; but it was so true, after all this time, he finally had a family again.

'I swear it' Gibbs nodded.

'Right then, better get to work' he grinned. The sooner he helped Gibbs get his investigation done, the sooner he'd be back with Rose and Craig and the sooner they could leave.

'Quite right, McGee, Sketch and shoot. Colonel, gonna need someone to guard the cockpit until I can get one of my agents back here, seal off the cockpit, it could contain trace evidence that'll need bagging and tagging. I'll also need someone to lay out a grid of the field' Gibbs spoke to Teague and McGee who both nodded before walking away.

'So, Doctor… what were you doing here?' he turned back to the Doctor.

'Me and my friends, we were just wandering. We were walking through the field when we came across the crop circle' he shrugged.

'What time was this?' Gibbs pressed.

'I don't know! Few minutes before you arrived, listen, I just wanna help you find these people you're looking for so I can get Rose and Craig and get out of here' he cried. His Rose and Craig had been taken from him and all he wanted was them back! Gibbs was about to reply when another helicopter went by overhead and they watched its path just as Teague returned to them.

'We just started the air search. Hopefully we'll find them' Teague commented as the three of them began to walk in a circle around the edge of the circle. The Doctor was listening intently, if he could solve this quickly, he'd get back to Rose and Craig sooner. He couldn't believe how much having them in his life had changed him, now he had people to care for, but that made it all the better, he had a purpose again.

'I'm ignoring the fact that my aircraft is in the middle of a crop circle. What about you Agent Gibbs? What are your thoughts?' he wanted to know.

'Do I think your men were abducted by aliens, Colonel? No I don't but I'm not going to ignore anything. I need an overhead view of the field.' Gibbs state, whilst the Doctor shook his head in annoyance, some humans just couldn't accept that there was more out there, and Gibbs was clearly one of them.

'I already took digital photos. Sergeant Ramos!' Teague shouted and another man in uniform came rushing over to them.

'Camera' he demanded, and Ramos handed him a large bulky black camera. Teague took a chip from the back of it and handed it to Gibbs, who gave a nod of thanks.

'Who are the missing men?' he pressed on.

'Pilot is Captain Todd Newell. Co-pilot, Captain Patrick Barnett. Good Marines, but they're young pilots, hot shots. The two are close. They share an apartment off base' Teague explained. Their lap of the circle had brought them near to two men who were not dressed like they were investigators, more like country bumpkins. One was dressed like a farmer. He had dark hair in a ponytail under a yellow and brown. He was wearing a grey shirt under blue denim dungarees. Over the top he was wearing an orange checkered shirt. The other man looked different. He was wearing a blue jacket over a grey shirt and white T-shirt. On the arm was a brown and yellow badge. His hair was grey and thinning, his eyes dark, and his trousers were black. He was clearly important around this parts, judging how the farmer was talking very politely to him.

'I'll need their officer qualification records and NATOPS Jackets' Gibbs stated firmly as he looked back out across the field and sighed.

'McGee!' he yelled, and McGee came hurrying over.

'Yeah, Boss' he questioned.

'The shots of the crop circle, e-mail them to Abby' he ordered, passing him the chip whilst doing so. McGee looked kind of uneasy at the idea and the Doctor vaguely wondered who this Abby was.

'Abby? Are you certain you want to do that? You know she's obsessed with the paranormal and…' he trailed off as Gibbs glared at him. He quickly shut his mouth and the Doctor smirked. He liked the sound of this Abby. Interested in space and stars, a good quality in a human!

'Right. I'm on it' he amended before hurrying off to do so. Gibbs turned back to look Teague.

'I do not want UFO Freaks crawling around here, Colonel. Let's keep a lid on this. No releases to the media.' He said in an almost asking tone.

'Agreed' Teague nodded, and the Doctor sighed slightly.

'Problem?' Teague turned to him.

'You lot, you keep saying the crop circle isn't important, but it must be' he sighed as he briskly walked over to the helicopter, waving his hand to indicate for the other two to follow. He crouched down and looked underneath, and the other men soon followed his actions.

'Look, under the helicopter, the corn was forced down and outwards by the air currents, but the circle around it was crushed in a swirl pattern, so someone made the crop circle around the helicopter after it landed, possibly to try and cover something up' he told them, pointing out the differences in the corn stalks. It was actually because Rose had pointed it out earlier that had caused him to notice, he was so glad he had such clever friends!

'Nice observation, you see, keep going like that and this'll be soon wrapped up' Gibbs smiled slightly at him.

'Why make a crop circle though, what would that achieve' Teague wondered.

'Not sure yet, but I wanna talk to those locals over there' the Doctor said suddenly pointing over at the farmer and the other man. The local people in this place had to be behind making that crop circle, and that had to be the key to all this. And that's exactly what they did, they jumped to their feet and briskly walked over to them, and moments later they were in conversation with them.

'Hello, I'm the Doctor; this is Special Agent Gibbs' the Doctor grinned cheerfully at them; whilst they both looked at him like he was the strangest thing they had ever seen.

'I take you're the one who found the helicopter' Gibbs asked the farmer.

'Aye, that right' he grunted, his voice was sort of gravelly.

'Can you tell us exactly what happened?' the Doctor asked. The farmer sighed and got a thoughtful look on his face.

'I'm always up before the sun. it's only 30 acres, but it's a lot of work.' The farmer sighed as he looked around at his stretch of land.

'You didn't hear anything last night?' Gibbs asked.

'Nothing' the farmer said with a simply head shake.

'So how long you think it's gonna be before they get that thing out of here? I got work to do' he pointed out, sounding a little frustrated.

'What do you think happened to your field?' Gibbs asked rather than answering. The Doctor smiled, Gibbs used the same tactic as he to avoid giving answers! He might be alright after all!

'You're asking me? Ask the Air Force. This ain't the first Crop Circle here.' The farmer pointed out.

'Really, tell me about it?' the Doctor requested, this sounded like it could be one of those small things you overlooked at first before it became more important.

'We had one in 1994. The Air Force investigated, but we never did get no answers.' The other man explained.

'There was lights back then, too' he softly commented after a moment's thought. The Doctor frowned, he scanned the area and there was nothing alien there, no traces, he must be lying! Suspect number one!

'Lights?' Gibbs asked, sounding annoyed and disbelieving.

'Lit up the sky last night' he stated.

'They woke me up. It wasn't lightning. There was no thunder. Like I told you, I didn't hear anything. I just tried to put it out of my mind until I discovered this' the farmer added. Gibbs smiled tightly at him, clearly not believing a word he was hearing.

'We might have more questions for you Mr. Clay' he said softly.

'I ain't going nowhere' Clay shrugged as he nodded at the two of them before walking away.

'Well, I guess I should ask around, see if anybody else seen something' the other man suggested as he placed his cream colour straw hat on.

'How long you been sheriff' Gibbs asked before he can walk away.

'Couple of years now' the Sheriff stated as he moves back in front of Gibbs.

'Your full time job?' Gibbs pressed.

'I also run the grain and feed store' he nodded. Gibbs nodded with another tight smile, before the Sheriff walked away. Gibbs immediately turned to the Doctor.

'They're lying' said the Doctor quietly.

'Oh yeah' Gibbs nodded as they began to slowly walk back over to the helicopter. And the Doctor had every intention of finding out what about and why, him getting back to Rose and Craig depended on it and nothing, certainly not some lying country folk were going to be the ones to get in his way.

…

'Right, come on you two, we need to talk to Gibbs' Kate ushered them through the building. They had both been uncuffed and were looking around curiously. The room the lift had taken them to was all split up with little walls, separating each team of agents out. Four desks were in the area were Kate and Tony had taken them too; clearly two were for Gibbs and McGee too. Then they'd been lead through another corridor, down a flight of stairs, and into a large white room, filled with very bulky machines, all of which look very complex and difficult to use. Several brightly coloured photo art lined the walls. And standing near a silvery metal framework unit with a computer on it sat a tall girl with black hair tied in pigtails, dark makeup on her pale but pretty face, and tattoos on various parts of her body. She was wearing a black and green T-Shirt and black trousers under a long white lab coat. She turned to look at them as they entered the room.

'Hey guys, who're your friends' she asked cheerfully as she leapt to her feet.

'Abby, this is Rose and Craig' Tony introduced them and they shook hands with her.

'Nice to meet you' she smiled at them, and they returned it. She was so sweet and nice, and very cheerful for a girl dressed like a Goth. A beeping noise on the computer interrupted them, and she turned a pressed a few keys before on a television screen on the front wall came to life, with a large picture of the field on it. It turned out there were five circles in total, the largest one with the helicopter in it, two smaller ones, and two even smaller ones, forming a sort of L shape.

'Hey Abby, Gibbs wanted me to email you the photos' McGee's voice came over the line as they all looked at the photo of the crop circle.

'McGee, you are turning me on! It's very Glastonbury, circa 1980s' she shouted into a headset she had just put on.

'I'm not familiar with Glastonbury' McGee said from his end of the video link and you could just imagine him shrugging.

'Southern England, where most of the crop circles were found' Abby replied.

'Abby they're hoaxes' McGee was clearly trying to convince her.

'Yeah, but they are interesting' she argued.

'Yeah, actually I put them right up there with Tarot cards and telephone psychics' McGee mocked.

'I thought two farmers admitted to creating them' he mused.

'Well, yeah, but there's been over ten thousand reported all over the world. There's no way those two did them all' she reasoned.

'Abby, nothing paranormal happened here' he said with certainty.

'How can you be so sure, for all you know there're whole other worlds out there all brimming with life' Craig spoke up, and the sound of McGee sighing could be clearly heard.

'Craig, you can't really believe all that nonsense' Tony put in.

'Yeah but there was no damage to the helicopter, yet the entire crew vanished' Abby pointed out.

'You can't take crop circles seriously. You're a scientist. There's a logical explanation' McGee argued.

'Listen to me, McGee. I need pictures, and lots of them. And specimens of stalks down to the roots. And a core sample of soil at least twelve inches. And make sure you get a control sample from outside the circle' she ordered him, clearly not willing to give in and Rose giggled; she liked this Abby girl a lot!

'Abby. We're looking for two missing Marines' Kate pointed out with a sigh.

'And Gibbs will kill me if he thinks I'm investigating UFOs instead of doing my job' McGee fearfully pointed out. It was clear that Gibbs kept them all on a short leash.

'Come on, McGee! Do it for me, please. I'll show you my new tat' she tried to entice, and clearly it worked, for McGee sighed.

'Ok, I'll try' he sighed before the line went dead, and Abby did a triumphant fist pump. Laughing slightly, Kate brought out her phone and dialled a number.

'Gibbs, it's Kate, we're back at NCIS, Craig and Rose say they were just wandering and came across the Crop Circle and quite frankly I believe them' she said and Rose and Craig both smiled gratefully at her.

'That matches what the Doctor said, but he's helping me and proving useful, so I want you to hang onto them, try and get them to help if you can. And get some DNA samples so Abby can eliminate them from the scene. Also get Ducky to run a medical exam on them, just to be sure' Gibbs ordered her.

'Got it' she said.

'After that, I want you to take them with you to our missing marine's flat, they share one, and don't let them out of your sight' he told her.

'On it Gibbs' she said before hanging up.

'Right, the Doctor confirmed what you've told us, but we still need your help and co-operation. We need to be able to eliminate you from any forensics found at the scene so we need some DNA samples from the both of you' she said politely to them.

'We'd also like for you to let our medical examiner look you both over' she went on.

'What for?' Rose asked quietly, and Craig knew why. She'd always hated hospitals and medical examinations, they were horrible!

'Our boss just what's to make sure you're Ok, but you don't have too' she gently explained, sensing her stress.

'I'll give DNA, but I really don't want to be examined, I'm fine away' she nodded and Kate smiled at her.

'OK, well if you come with me, I'll collect some DNA' Abby smiled, leading her away.

'I'll have the examination' Craig spoke up. He had no idea why Gibbs wanted him to have it, but he had a reason of his own. His DNA had been mutating, and he wanted to know if it was still happening. So by getting an examination and having Abby look at his DNA, he might just find out some things about himself. He could only hope.

…

'Why have them looked over?' the Doctor asked as Gibbs hung up his phone and returned it to his pocket.

'Just covering my bases. I said they'd be looked after and I wanna show you I'm a man of my word' Gibbs explained and the Doctor nodded, he was glad Gibbs was going to such lengths to look after his friends, it calmed his nerves a bit to know that fact. At that moment Teague reappeared by their side.

'The replacement crew's ready to fly the Cobra back to New River' Teague said to Gibbs as he approached. Behind him several officers were waiting, it was clear Teague was asking permission before carrying out the task.

'Go ahead. We've got everything we need' Gibbs nodded.

'You're clear to go' Teague called over his shoulder to his men.

'McGee, what are you doing with all that?' Gibbs asked as McGee walked by, carrying a lot of heavy looking equipment and boxes.

'I'm only following instructions. Ask Abby' McGee sighed.

Gibbs frowned as he looked around, something the Doctor immediately picked up on.

'What is it?' he asked wonderingly.

'I was worried about keeping a lid on this thing… where are the gawkers? Do you see any locals other than the farmer who owns this field and the sheriff?' Gibbs replied, looking deep in thought. Teague approached him once more, having been talking to his men moments before.

'Special Agent Gibbs? The Huey spotted a burnt-out area just north of here. You might want to come with us' he informed them, and they set off at a brisk pace, whilst the helicopter took off above them. The Doctor sighed; this was getting stranger and stranger.

They walked for a few minutes before they arrived at a clearing. A burnt down wooden cabin's remains were scattered about, and several trees had been covered in soot and ash. Some officers were already taping off the area.

'Do you think this has something to do with my crew?' Teague asked Gibbs as they all looked around the sight.

'I don't know, but we're going to find out. We've got another scene to process' Gibbs says to McGee, and they both began to process the scene. The Doctor looked about in thought. He didn't know how this tied into the crop circle and the missing men, but he was sure it was, and he planned to find out how.

…

Whilst Kate and Abby were laughing with Rose as she took DNA samples from her, Tony had led Craig into a lift and down to the bottom floor. It was colder down there and Craig wrapped his arms around him to keep himself warm. A pair of large white automatic doors opened, and they stepped into a large white room with a television screen like the one in Abby's lab on a wall. Most of the walls had sort of draws on them, whilst a large silvery metal table stood in the centre of the room. Sat at a desk was an elderly man wearing a navy blue waistcoat and a red bowtie. He had grey hair and bright blue eyes behind his glasses. He looked up at the blonde with a warm grandfatherly smile.

'Ah, you must be young Mr Tyler, Abby warned me of you forthcoming arrival, though thankfully not in the way most of my guests come to me' he greeted him as he stood up.

'Hello' he gave a little wave, not really sure how to response to that.

'Right, Ducky, I'm gonna wait upstairs, tell me when you've finished' Tony said before he walked out of the room and they heard the lift ding again.

'Oh, please, take a seat' Ducky indicated the metal table, which Craig chuckled at but hopped onto it, his legs dangling over the edge.

'Thank you Doctor…' he trailed off, waiting for his name.

'Mallard, but please, call me Ducky' Ducky shook his hand.

'Thank you Ducky' he smiled.

'So, what brings a strapping young man like yourself to the Autopsy room today' Ducky began the conversation.

'Autopsy? This is an Autopsy room' Craig looked around with a shiver, remembering the morgue where he'd been cornered by Gelth infected zombies.

'Indeed, but I occasionally meet and greet with living patients too' Ducky smiled reassuringly at him.

'Could you please' he indicated for Craig to lift his hoodie up as he put a stethoscope in his ears. Craig lifted it up, shivering slightly as the cold metal gliding over his bare chest.

'Hum, slightly elevated heartbeat, nothing to worry about though' he said thoughtfully before letting Craig pull his hoodie back down.

'Any off feelings lately, sickness, headaches?' he asked.

'Well I did get an electric shock a few days ago but I'm fine' Craig shrugged. It had hurt like hell whilst happening but it was fine now.

'That could explain the elevated heartbeat, but I'd better be sure, hold still a moment' he said as he brought out an Ophthalmoscope and gently positioned Craig's head before he peered into his eyes. He jumped back slightly in surprize, which Craig quickly picked up on.

'What's wrong' he asked.

'I thought I saw…' Ducky trailed off, leaning back in for another look.

'Saw…' Craig trailed off as he moved back again, a frown lining his face.

'I'd better take some of your blood and have Abby test it' he evaded the question.

'What was in my eyes' Craig wanted to know.

'I'm not sure, it was only there for a moment, a sort of golden spark' the medical examiner mused. Craig's eyes widened. Gold in his eyes? What the hell, it must have been a bit of static inside him or something.

'Anyway, if I could see your arms' Ducky pushed on in a light voice, trying to return the tone of the room back to the comfortably one it had been. Craig rolled up his sleeves and held out his arms.

'Healthy muscles, no marks of drug use, seems to have some small bruising though, have you been in a fight lately' he turned to look up at Craig somewhat disapprovingly whilst the blonde sighed.

'Sort of, it's complicated. All of it, my life's so complicated now, ever since I met the Doctor' he sighed slightly. He loved the Doctor, he really did, he was like his brother, but he was dangerous, and even Craig couldn't defend that.

'I am assure you young Craig, I've seen all kinda of complicated things with my time with Gibbs' Ducky chuckled.

'Yeah well, your boss complicated this situation, there was no need to haul me and Rose in here' Craig scowled, he was still pretty annoyed about it, but at least the people here were nice, not like that creep in the last place he'd been held in. Ducky chuckled slightly.

'Yes, Jethro may hide behind his big BAD WOLF act, but he does his best to look out for people' Ducky defended the man who was clearly his friend. But Craig wasn't interested in that, he was more interesting in Ducky's choice of words. Something must have shown on his face, for Ducky seemed to gather something was wrong.

'Something the matter my boy?' he asked concernedly.

'Why did you use that choice of words, Bad Wolf, why say them?' he asked slightly accusingly, and Ducky frowned in confusion.

'They are only words my boy, do they matter?' he asked interestedly.

'I don't know… It's like, it's like they're following me. No matter where I am or when, those two words keep turning up' Craig said thoughtfully.

'Well they are only words, they cannot follow, only be written or spoken or interpreted' Ducky pointed out.

'Of course!' Craig cried as realisation hit him. The words themselves couldn't be following him, Something or someone else was sending them to him, all across the universe! Like a message, or a warning, or something! But what were they saying? And who was it from?

'Well young Craig, in my experience only one thing is good at truly revealing the truth' Ducky exclaimed profoundly.

'And what's that?' Craig asked curiously. For now he'd focus on the matter at hand, then he'd get to the Bad Wolf mystery.

'Time' he replied simply and Craig sighed. He was sick of waiting for Bad Wolf to reveal itself, but what else could he do? But Ducky was right, the Bad Wolf would be revealed soon enough and with the Doctor and Rose by his side they'd get through whatever it was, they had each other after all.

'Anyway, if you'd hold this my boy' Ducky changed the subject, handing Craig a small bottle as he placed a yellow band around his patient's arms. He jabbed a needle into his flesh through a small plastic pipe causing Craig to suck in a breath of pain, before he attached the bottle to it, and they watched it fill up with blood.

'Right, I believe that's everything, I'll let Tony know you're on your way up' Ducky smiled at him he stuck a plaster over the bleeding part of his arm, before Craig hopped back of the table.

'Thanks Ducky' Craig smiled at him as they approached the door. He entered the lift alone and pressed the button.

'It was nothing my boy' Ducky smiled as the lift doors shut, and up he went.

…

Rose was laughing at a joke Abby was telling. She was sitting in a chair whilst Abby was brushing a strange piece of forensic equipment over her hands. Kate was leaning against a table nearby giggling along with them.

'So tell me, where'd you meet that Doctor of yours?' Kate suddenly asked.

'It's sort of complicated. I was… attacked in the shop I worked in, my brother was there but there were too many of them. Anyway, suddenly there was this other man there, the Doctor, he grabbed my hand and said Run, that's all, run. And that's what the three of us have been doing since. Travelling around together' she smiled as she remembered how they'd met their best friend.

'But I think it runs a bit deeper than that. Your reactions to being taken away from him' she elaborated.

'Well, we've very close, he's got us out of some tight corners' she shrugged.

'Like the one you're all in now' she asked sadly and rose nodded.

'Well don't worry, we just really need your help with this, then you can go once this is sorted' she smiled encouragingly at the blonde.

'Thanks' she smiled gratefully at her. It seemed Kate wasn't as hard as she had appeared in the field. In fact all the people here seemed decent people. It lifted her slightly to think that for once no harm would come to the Doctor or Craig. Those boys were always getting into trouble!

'All done' Abby smiled and Rose got up to her feet. Suddenly to door to the lab opened and Ducky walked in.

'Hello Abby, I've collected some blood from young Mr Tyler so you've got your DNA here' he smiled as he pasted the bottle of blood other to the forensic scientist. He suddenly spotted Rose.

'Oh hello my dear, I take it you will not be imposing your company on me this day' he shook her hand.

'Sadly no, no offense but I hate medical examinations' she smiled politely.

'Yes, they do tend to have that effect on people. However I sent your brother up to meet Tony, I believe you have an apartment to help us investigate' he smiled at her.

'That's right, come along Rose' Kate spoke up, and smiling again at Abby and Ducky, the two girls left the lab and went up in the lift.

…

'Ah, all done with Ducky?' Tony asked as Craig approached the desk he was sitting at.

'Yep' Craig smiled at him.

'Good, look about before, sorry, I wasn't gonna shot you. I guess I should've been a bit more compassionate, we had just taken you away from your friend, but it's not really in my job to be nice' he explained quietly.

'Well, I shouldn't have been yelling so much, I'm an adult after all, I'm not physically bonded to the Doctor' Craig shrugged.

'Anyway, it seems you're telling the truth, Craig Oliver Tyler, born March 26th 1986, Lives in London, England. No criminal record' Tony read off his screen. The elevator doors suddenly dinged open and Rose and Kate walked out. Craig grinned at her as she joined him.

'Ready to go?' Kate asked Tony.

'Yeah, all set' he stated as he rose to his feet and clicked his gun into his pocket. He looked at Craig quizzically when the blonde frowned.

'Sorry, just… really hate those things' he explained.

'Peace maker, of course' Tony commented as they all got into the lift. The door dinged shut, and soon they were back in the garage area, just as a large van came in, and the men driving it unloaded something of great importance, they were unloading the Tardis.

'What are you doing with that?' Craig demanded to know.

'It was found in the field, is it yours?' Kate asked in confusion.

'It's the Doctor's' Rose stated.

'Well right now it's evidence, he can have it back when we're done with it' Tony shrugged and Craig sighed. It wasn't like they'd be able to get inside her, but he liked the Tardis, she was his home! He didn't want her being taken into a government investigative building!

'Come on, let's get going' Kate told them encouragingly, and as both Tylers nodded, the four of them got into the grey car, and where soon back on the road.

…

The four of them walked slowly through a darkened corridor of a block of flats. Tony and Kate cautiously pushed open a plain white door, standing protectively in front of Rose and Craig. It creaked open and going through, Tony flicked a switch and the light comes on. The room was white and a little messy but not too bad. Posters lined the walls, a collection of DVDs and CD stood on a rack, a fan was on a counter in the kitchen area. It was the average apartment of two young men.

'So we're looking for anything that suggests they didn't just leave on a routine flight' Tony pointed out, most likely for the two Tylers' benefit, but it was Kate who replied.

'Thanks for explaining, Special Agent DiNozzo' she smiled sarcastically whilst he frowned after her as she passed him.

'Put these on' she said, passing some white gloves to Rose and Craig, which they both put on whilst she and Tony did the same. The four of them began to look around. Kate picked up a framed photo of the two pilots together and Rose and Craig both peered at it over her shoulders. Suddenly Tony noticed something on the table and he eagerly picked it up. Craig noticed it was a magazine, the cover of which was a sea and sky background with a woman in the foreground wearing nothing but a pink bikini.

'Oh, my god! I don't believe it! Do you know what this is? This is a classic. December ninety two. Pamela's debut. I lost my copy.' He grinned up at them whilst Kate frowned at him.

'Lost it… or wore it out?' she smiled sarcastically at him once more and he scowled slightly.

'We need to get scent articles for the dogs' she reminded him as she moved into the hallway with Rose. It was dark, but at the end a door was cracked open. Light and steam were pouring out; the sound of dripping water could be heard. Kate pressed a finger to her lip as she looked at Rose before she turned around, moving forwards to investigate. She slowly took out her gun, holding it ready to fire if need be. She pushed the door open and Rose gasped.

'Kate behind you!' she cried, and Kate went to whirl around, but it was too late. An arm had wrapped around her neck and she yelped in fear. The other arm was across her body, restraining her gun arm, she was completely unable to move, but sadly for her attacker, Rose was not.

'Let go of her, now!' she shrieked, rushing forwards and bringing her hand around. She slapped the man hard around the face. He stumbled slightly but did not loosen his grip on Kate.

'What the hell are you two doing in my apartment?' a man's voice whispered through the darkness in her ear before he came into Rose's view, still holding Kate hostage. He was taller and stronger than the two of them, with a short buzz-cut style haircut and a powerfully built body. His eyes were cold and dark.

Suddenly Tony, swiftly followed by Craig burst into the other end of the hall. They had clearly heard Rose's voice, and Tony had his gun drawn, it was trained carefully on the man.

'Rose, move back' Craig cried, and she pressed herself against the wall, giving Tony a clearer shot. She looked at the man's face and realised that it really was his apartment, he was one of the men in the photo.

'NCIS! Let her go!' he ordered, whilst Rose and Craig tensely watched the scene unfolding in front of them, the two of them wishing that they were back with the Doctor, and that they weren't about to witness a possible shooting. Tony clicked his gun threateningly once more, silently warning the man to let go of Kate, and if he didn't, it was clear he was going to shot. Craig grabbed hold of Rose and they tugged their heads into each other, not wanting to see a man gunned down right in front of them, both of them wondering exactly how this day had taken such a human but absurd turn.

**...**

**And there it is! So I'm sticking to the actual episode as much as possible, but adding my own bits and pieces in to try and make it more Doctor Who then NCIS. I've always wanted to do a cross over episode for this story and when I got the idea for this it just seemed to perfect not to do. I mean come on... a crop circle? Fantastic! Plus, The Doctor and Gibbs are so alike but different at the same time, I just had to do this! I hope you enjoyed and please review!**


	50. Vanished, Investigating With The Pros

**Hey readers! So here's part two of my first proper crossover, and also proudly, my 50th chapter, so HOORAY!**** Anyway, please note that I do not own Doctor Who or NCIS or the episode Vanished. I just own this crossover rewrite and the character Craig Tyler! Please enjoy : )**

**Vanished – Investigating With The Pros**

'I said LET. HER. GO!' Tony roared as the man kept his grip on a fearful Kate. He aimed his gun a little higher. With a defeated sigh, the man realised the female agent and raised his hands to his shoulders in surrender. In a flash Tony had him up against the wall, cuffing his hands behind his back as Rose rushed over to the staggering Kate.

'Are you alright' she asked in concern for her new friend as she reassuringly placed her hands on Kate's shoulders. She seemed to be alright, there wasn't a mark around her neck so he couldn't have applied too much pressure.

'Yeah, yeah I'm fine' she nodded as she regained her composure.

'Name, now' Tony hissed at the man.

'Captain Patrick Barnett' the man spat back as Tony roughly turned him around to face him.

'Our missing pilot' Kate realised and Tony sighed.

'In there, dressed now' he uncuffed him again before he shoved Barnett through the door to his bedroom, closing it behind them.

'You alright Kate, sure he didn't hurt you' Craig asked.

'Yeah, I'm fine he just caught me off guard. Never thought I'd be happy to have Tony with me' she smiled slightly. At wasn't even a moment later that Tony, and the re-handcuffed Barnett, now dressed in a green and brown camouflaged uniform re-emerged. Tony pushed him through the apartment, out the building and into the back of the car. Rose, Craig and Kate all hastily followed him. Craig stopped Rose from getting into the back next to Barnett, opting to sit next to the man himself. If he became violent, it was better he attack him than his baby sister. Rose climbed in on Craig's other side whilst Kate got into the driver's sit, and soon they were back at NCIS.

…

The Doctor sighed slightly. The Cabin Fire hadn't proved to have much surface value and he still hadn't figured out the link to the missing men by the time he had been driven back to the headquarters of NCIS. The instant they had arrived Gibbs had got a phone call from Tony, telling him that they had found one of the men, Barnett, at his apartment and that they were bringing him in.

Gibbs had them immediately led the Doctor down to a room and asked to stay in there whilst he went to prepare for the interview he was going to conduct. The room was long and narrow and very dark. One of the walls was a one way window, he could see Barnett sitting alone in an interview room through it. The room he was in was empty save a man sitting by a computer and various other bulky pieces of equipment, most likely recording equipment. The Doctor had only been in there a few moments when Tony and Kate walked in, accompanied to his delight by Rose and Craig, who both practically launched themselves at him. He grinned and laughed as the three of them hugged each other.

'Got you back again' he grinned down at the two of them.

'You'll never manage to get rid of us' Rose giggled.

'Forever' Craig laughed. The three of them grinned at each other, before turning to look at Barnett through the glass just as Gibbs briskly walked in. the interview had dimmed lights and was very simple, with just a table and an empty chair opposite the one Barnett was occupying. A camera hung down from the ceiling in the top right hand corner. The Doctor could tell that one their side, the window was in fact a mirror.

'I understand you're not cooperating, Captain Barnett' Gibbs noted aloud.

'I don't know anything. It's Saturday night. I was at my girlfriend's. Got home, just getting out of the shower and I heard someone in my apartment' Barnett explained.

'Where is Captain Newell?' Gibbs wanted to know.

'I don't know' Barnett shook his head.

'You were scheduled for a proficiency flight at twenty three hundred last night. Did you take it?' Gibbs asked.

'What's the flight schedule say, Sir?' Barnett snidely asked.

'Well, it says right here Newell and you took off from New River' Gibbs replied.

'Then we did' Barnett said somewhat cockily.

'Here's how it works, Ace. I ask the questions, you give direct answers' Gibbs smirked slightly, before a look of anger took over his face. He banged his fist against the table, causing Barnett to jump slightly.

'Did you take the flight?' he harshly snapped.

'I think Gibbs enjoys this more than sex' Tony grinned from their side. It was clear that Gibbs had an angry style of interviewing which Tony enjoyed watching.

'That would explain the three wives' Kate joked and the five of them laughed slightly. Craig could see exactly why Gibbs would have been divorced several times.

'Your Cobra was found abandoned a hundred and fifty miles from where it was supposed to be and Newell is missing' They heard Gibbs point out as Barnett had still not answered. He got up out of his seat and moved around the table to stand behind Barnett. He leant down and whispered into his ear.

'What's he doing?' Rose wanted to know.

'T-B-I' Tony replied simply.

'Excuse me?' Kate asked in confusion. It was clear she had no idea about what her boss was currently doing either.

'Truth by intimidation. In five, four, three, two, one' Tony began to count down on his fingers, and the other four's faces changed to surprise as Barnett immediately began to explain as he reached zero.

'We were leaving for the base when Todd got a call on his cell. He took it into the bedroom. When he came out he was messed up. He said he wasn't feeling well and wanted to call the Squadron Duty Officer in Ops to cancel the hop' Barnett explained in a weaker voice. Whatever Gibbs had said had clearly knocked his confidence.

'Who made the call?' Gibbs asked.

'I don't know' Barnett shook his head.

'I don't believe you, Barnett. You live together, you fly together, you fight together. You share everything' Gibbs scoffed.

'I thought we did. Look, I rode his ass to figure out what was going on, but Todd… he got really pissed. He told me to lay low for the rest of the night. He didn't want me getting in trouble' Barnett replied.

'And you let it go at that?' Gibbs asked disbelievingly.

'Todd said he'd explain when he got back' Barnett shrugged.

''I believe him. What did Gibbs whisper in his ear?' Kate asked from their side curiously.

'If I knew I'd be Gibbs. I'm going to go pull Captain Newell's cell records' Tony said as he opened the observation room door and left. Kate frowned after him, clearly not satisfied with that answer.

'So, is Gibbs always such a charmer' the Doctor asked.

'Believe it or not, I've actually seen him when he's in a bad mood' Kate laughed and the Doctor and Rose chuckled.

'So what now?' Craig asked.

'Now, we go see if Abby's got anything' Kate stated as she exited the open door, and the three time travellers left after her.

…

The four of them walked into Abby's lab and looked around her the Gothic forensic scientist. She was in the further room, walking through the door whilst carrying a large corn stalk in a plastic bag. McGee was walking behind her, looking quite overwhelmed and frustrated, he was clearly trying to get her to see reason, but she was apparently having none of it. The Doctor grinned, he already liked this Abby, she was clearly very willing to accept the weird and paranormal and the beauty of the universe without needing any real proof.

'Did you feel any energy when you were inside the circle, McGee? Did you get a tingling sensation or start to vibrate? Abby excitedly asked a frowning McGee. It seemed that neither of them had noticed them yet.

'You're going to start to vibrate if you don't do what Gibbs wants' McGee warned her.

'I'm running tests on the molecular structure of plants from within and outside the circle' Abby completely ignored him.

'Okay Abby, Gibbs made it clear… the priority is the cabin fire' he tried.

'You know, people try to imitate the real thing, but the notion that all recorded formations were man-made with simple flattening tools does not explain the well-documented plant alterations by electromagnetic effects' Abby carried on, not taking any notice of poor McGee.

'I warned you…'McGee sighed as he turned around, finally seeing them smirking at the scene before them. He raised his hands, almost towards the heavens, before nodding sideways at Abby as an explanation before he stalked out of the room. It was clear that he was a bit too narrow minded to accept aliens as being real, and that Abby's acceptance was annoying him.

'Hey Abby' Rose grinned causing Abby to look up and finally see them.

'Hey Rose, Craig. And you … you must be the famous Doctor' she smiled at them.

'Hello, you're Abby right?' the Doctor waved cheerfully at her.

'That's me, so you're here to find out what I have right' Abby addressed the last bit to Kate who nodded.

'Well I'm running all the evidence I have from the cabin fire so you can tell McGee to chill. But I'm much more interested in… this' she turned to the spot and went to her computer. She tapped on a few keys, and onto a black screen on her monitor was the image of two spiralling set of two lines. The Doctor instantly recognized them as DNA helixes.

'Now, the one of the left, that's one of an average human being, the one on the right, it's got something else in it. I've checked and triple checked and it's definitely different' she exclaimed excitedly.

'Different, Different how?' the Doctor asked interestedly.

'I have no idea, it's like there's something else in it, like the person it's from has been contaminated with something I've never seen before' she explained. The Doctor moved forwards for a closer look and nearly jumped back in shock. The helix showed that the human it came from was changing, slowly but surely into something else, something new. A species like none he'd ever even _heard_ about before! It was the trace pattern which spooked him; it was the trace of the Time Vortex. He span on the spot and looked at Abby.

'What human did this come from?' he asked fearfully. He already had a very good idea who.

'That's the interesting bit. The normal one is from Rose, but this one, it came from Craig' she replied softly and the Doctor groaned.

'So it's true, what Van Statten said, I'm still changing?' Craig asked fearfully. The Doctor silently nodded.

'I'll find a way to fix this' he whispered to his friend, and Craig sighed but weakly nodded.

'Sorry Doctor, but changing a person's DNA back to a stable state would be practically impossible' Abby put in here.

'Oh I'll manage it, I'm pretty good when I've got the time' the Doctor shrugged her off, but he carried on before she could protest.

'So. Nothing on that fire' he changed the subject.

'Nothing yet, but I'll let you all know' Abby smiled, clearly getting the hint that he didn't want to worry Craig anymore about it.

'Well, we should go check Barnett's version of events before Gibbs asks for it' Kate noted aloud; and bidding Abby goodbye, the four of them went back into the lift and returned to the squad room.

…

When they had arrived, the Doctor, Rose and Craig had all taken to sitting in chairs near Kate's desk thinking aloud about the way this was playing out and possible theories as to what was actually going on. It seemed that for once there was no alien involvement, purely human, but that didn't stop them from wanting to solve whatever mystery was going on. Whilst they did that, Kate had been talking on the phone, the results of which had confirmed Barnet's version of events the night he had supposedly vanished. She had just put her phone back on the receiver when Gibbs came walking around the corner, his face showing he wanted an update.

'Operation Duty Officer at New River said that Captain Newell signed the log. When I pressed, he admitted that he never really saw Captain Barnett. He just assumed that he was on the flight line, pre-flighting' she told him as Gibbs reached his own desk.

'So Newell took off alone?' he asked in reply.

'Can you fly a Cobra by yourself?' Tony asked from his seat at his desk across from Kate's. he was holding his phone in his hand, clearly listening to that and the conversation at the same time.

'Oh, yes' Gibbs nodded.

'Yeah, I'm still here' Tony said to the people on the other end of the line of his phone.

'Anything unusual in Newell's O-Q-R or his NATOPS jacket?' Gibbs asked Kate.

'He's an only child. Grew up in Florida, just outside Orlando' she explained.

'Any connection to West Virginia?' he pressed.

'No. His parents died in an auto accident two years ago. His father sold insurance, and mother was an accountant at Disney World' she explained.

'Oh we should so go there one day' Craig told the Doctor excitedly, causing him and Rose to laugh.

'Maybe, one day' he grinned, and he might actually keep that in mind that Craig wanted to go there. Honestly, that blonde guy was such a big kid! Suddenly Gibbs mobile rang and he answered as they all watched him in interest.

'Yeah, Gibbs. Well, you can see Barnett anytime you'd like, Colonel' Gibbs said before he hung up again.

'Teague?' the Doctor guessed.

'Good C. O' Gibbs shrugged as an explanation.

'Newell went through NCROTC at the University of Florida before flight school. His impulsiveness has gotten him in some trouble. A fight cost him a non-punitive letter of caution' Kate went on to tell them.

'That's great' Tony said brightly into his phone before turning to Gibbs, who was looking expectantly at him.

'Last call Captain Newell got on his cell was at twenty one thirty last night. He hasn't made or received a call since. His phone is currently off' Tony told him.

'Where was the call from?' Gibbs demanded.

'A pay phone in Smoky Corners, West Virginia' Tony grinned.

'Kate, you three, with me' he said, and Kate, along with a smiling Doctor Rose and Craig for being addressed like proper agents all rose to their feet, following their fearless leader into the lift once more.

…

Gibbs had taken them back to Smokey Corners in the grey car, and his driving would even put the Doctor's to shame it was so bumpy! They pulled up in dusty stretch of land, outside a small kind of grubby corner shop in the middle of nowhere, but out there the proper name would be a convenience store.

As they pulled up the five of them got out into the bright sun light, and Kate went to the boot and retrieved a blue folder from it. She opened it as they began to walk towards the store.

'According to the phone company, this thing hardly ever gets used.' She told them as they approached the phone booth outside.

'Well, I guess even people out here have cell phones' Gibbs replied as the Doctor, Rose and Craig looked around. The blonde man noticed that from the window of the store, a young woman with brown hair and curious brown eyes was watching them with great interest.

'Don't look now, but I think we're being watched' he quietly told them.

'Mm-hmm. I see' Gibbs nodded. Kate pulled some gloves over her hands as she approached the booth and picked up the phone, dusting it for fingerprints with a thick grey brush covered in a funny type of powder.

'Have you found anything?' Rose curiously asked her. Kate shook her head.

'It's clean. Too clean. Not even a smudge' she sighed. Someone was covering their tracks well.

'Yeah, and by the looks of it, it's the only thing out here that has been cleaned recently' Craig noted looking around at the dusty landscape and grubby shop walls.

'Here, let me have a go' the Doctor moved forwards, his sonic screwdriver in hand. Gibbs and Kate watched in wonder as he used it to open the phone money box.

'What did you do?' Kate asked in confusion.

'Oh, just a little magic trick' the Doctor shrugged.

'I don't believe in magic' Gibbs commented drily as Kate brought out a plastic evidence bag from her pocket and tipped the contents of the money box into it. There was a pretty good chance that Abby would be able to collect prints of the coins inside.

'What are you doing to the phone' a voice suddenly asked from behind them, and they all turned to see a man in his mid-forties, wearing greyish blue trousers, a brown top under a long blue shirt. A blue cap sat over his greying hair. Gibbs approached him, bring out his badge and ID.

'Special Agent Gibbs. NCIS. Who are you?' he asked quietly.

'Ritt Everett. This is my store' the man introduced himself.

'See anyone using the phone Tuesday night?' Gibbs asked.

'Well…. . nope. Does this have anything to do about that helicopter and the crop circle?' Ritt changed the subject, a little too quickly in the Doctor's opinion. A large dusty brown truck with a red and blue light on the top pulled up near them, and out of the driver's side stepped out the Sherriff they had met at the corn field. What was he doing here? Unless Ritt had called him there for something…

'Hello, Sheriff' Gibbs greeted, as if he wasn't surprised to see him there at all.

'Special Agent Gibbs. Any luck?' Sheriff Thompson asked.

'Well, Sir, luck doesn't have that much to do with it' Gibbs stated quietly.

'I've been asking around. Lot of folks seen them lights and are complainin' their animals are acting out of sorts' Thompson told them,

'How?' Rose asked intrigued.

'Chickens stopped laying eggs. The cows ain't producing, and stuff like that' Thompson shrugged her off. Whilst he was talking, Gibbs had pulled out a photograph of the missing man, Newell. He was shown to have broad shoulders and a buzz cut hairstyle. His face was round and his eyes were shown to be dark brown.

'Did either of you two see him around? ' Gibbs asked them both.

'No' Thompson said whilst Ritt shook his head. But there was something odd about them, and Craig was sure they were lying, what he didn't know was that the Doctor and Gibbs were thinking exactly the same thing.

'His name's Newell. Captain Todd Newell' Gibbs elaborated.

'No, I'm sorry. Ain't seen him' Ritt shook his head again, his eyes trained on Rose and Kate slightly creepily. They both smiled mockingly sweetly back at him, both thinking he was a bit creepy, and not subtle!

'Newell? Ain't nobody by that name in the Corners. I'll keep an eye out for him' Thompson said, trying to be helpful, or more likely trying to throw them off a certain scent. Either way he was lying about something, and all five of them shared the desire to find out what.

'Was he the one flying that helicopter? ' Ritt asked seemingly interested. Gibbs wasn't about to answer that, and he was saved from making up an evasive comment as he phone rang. He brought it out of his pocket.

'Yeah, Gibbs' he greeted, the Doctor standing close enough to hear the other person, which was Abby. Kate, Rose and Craig had gone back over to the truck, where Kate was brushing off her hands of dust, whilst Ritt and Thompson went back into his store.

'Gibbs! I am getting stonewalled here' she cried indignantly.

'By whom?' Gibbs asked, clearly humouring her.

'The Air Force. I requested their file on the nineteen ninety four crop circles in Smoky Corners. You'd thought I asked them for their missile launch codes' she joked sarcastically.

'Okay, I'll make a call, Ab' Gibbs assured her. He had no intention of making that call, but if it calmed Abby down enough to get him something useful, he'd tell her that.

'No, you don't understand. They're not going to tell you anything either. This is like Area Fifty-one. It is conspiracy at the highest level' she got a bit carried away.

' Abby, stop yourself. How about the cabin fire?' he changed the subject, but it seemed Abby didn't want too.

'Gibbs, this is big' the Doctor heard her cry imploringly.

'The fire' Gibbs pressed in a final sort of voice that left no room for Abby to argue.

'Unfortunately, nothing extra-terrestrial there' the Doctor heard Abby sigh.

'Arson. Plain old gasoline was used as an accelerant. I'm still working on the debris. Science can't be rushed, Gibbs' he heard her say before Gibbs hung up the phone.

'So, you think this fire's linked' the Doctor asked.

'Definitely' Gibbs nodded and they both sighed, looking out into space thoughtfully. Neither of them noticed the resemblance between themselves in that moment.

…

Kate, Rose, and Craig were standing by the car, Kate putting the evidence bag filled with the coins from the phone into the boot, when the girl who had been watching them in the window charged determinedly out of the store and was heading towards them.

'Head's up' Craig nodded at Kate as he saw her approaching. Kate and Rose turned to see her about to pass. In addition to her light brown hair, she had brown eyes and was wearing a yellow cardigan over a red top and blue jeans.

'Hi! Are you all right?' Kate added when she noticed how nervous the girl was.

'Yeah, I'm fine' she answered in a country sort of accent.

'What's your name?' Rose asked.

'Daphne' Daphne introduced herself.

'Ever seen him around here?' Kate asked, bring out the photo of Newell to show her. Daphne's eyes widened as she saw it, and she gulped slightly. The answer was definitely yes. Daphne looked around nervously before lowering her voice to a whisper.

'I can't talk right now. But if you come back at noon, my daddy will be at the V-F-W in Potterville' she told them quickly and very quietly.

'Okay' Kate nodded. Daphne nodded before hurrying away into a nearby wooden barn and out of sight.

'She looked so scare' Craig softly commented, it was kind of sad to see person their own age so troubled, not that they hadn't had more than their share of trouble before they'd even met the Doctor.

'Who's that?' Gibbs asked before either Rose or Kate could reply, as he and the Doctor approached the three of them from behind.

'Station owner's daughter. Daphne. I think she wanted to talk but couldn't. Her father's having lunch with his buddies at the V-F-W in Potterville around noon. She'll be alone' Kate explained to them.

'Anyway, Teague and his men are searching nearby, might as well check up on them' Gibbs sighed as they all got back into the car, and not five seconds later, they were off on another bumpy ride.

…

Gibbs must have broken every speed limit to get them to the search sight so quickly, and looking slightly green, the Doctor, Rose, and Craig staggered out of the car.

'Oh my god, he's even worse than you' Craig said as he held his stomach, trying not to be sick.

'Definitely, I knew there had to be someone who's a worse driver then me' the Doctor tried to sound triumphant, but the green effect to his face ruined it.

'Stop complaining' Gibbs chuckled slightly as they looked around. McGee and Tony were already there and were sitting under a green gazebo, a laptop set up in front of them. In the distance a group of Teague's men were carefully picking dogs up and putting them into their travelling cages in the back of a van. When Teague saw them he began to approach.

'The dogs are a no go. The handlers say something screwed up the dogs. Soon as they stepped into the woods, they started acting up' he informed them.

'Do not tell Abby. She's going to make something out of it' McGee was quick to comment.

'We should start checking the back of their necks for little red X's' Tony suggested with a grin.

'Excuse me?' Craig laughed, completely bewildered.

'Invaders From Mars' Tony grinned, and immediately Craig and Rose turned to the Doctor, wondering if he knew what invasion Tony was talking about. It seemed he didn't, for he shrugged looking as confused as them.

'Wait, I take it that's a film?' McGee spoke up and the three of them sighed, now it made more sense.

'Original nineteen fifty three version. Not the remake' Tony explained, and in that moment it became so obvious he was a total film buff.

'Everything's a movie to you, Tony' Kate sighed.

'Aliens landed in a field just like this one. They took over the locals' minds, leaving a little red X on the back of their necks' Tony grinned up at them.

'Sounds fake' the Doctor frowned, why were human's always reducing aliens to such nonsense. If only they knew their own place in the universe, they might have a little more respect!

'Oh, no! Scariest movie I ever saw. Especially when this kid tries to tell his mom and dad what's going on. The camera slowly comes around… reveals X's on the back of mom and dad's necks. I was scared of my parents for years after that' Tony stared of into his memories.

'I'm sure the feeling is mutual, Find anything?' Gibbs broke his bubble.

'Uh, yeah. Interviewed a half dozen locals. Nobody saw or heard the helicopter. Everyone has the same story' he told them.

'A well reversed story' the Doctor put in.

'B. O. L. 's. Balls of light. According to Abby they are created by manipulating the atomic particles in the atmosphere' McGee explained when they all threw him funny looks.

'Hmm, and who does the manipulating, McGee?' Gibbs asked slightly mockingly.

'I really don't know, Sir. I'm just relaying what Abby told me' McGee shrugged whilst the Doctor rolled his eyes. He liked Gibbs, he seemed to be a good man, but he should open his mind a bit, but then who was he to try and get humans to see things they didn't want too. Gibbs would believe in aliens in his own time, he just hated it when humans mocked and degraded aliens around him. But right now he had more pressing matters, like trying to find out how a man could vanish into thin air without foreign help, and what the hell was going on around here.

**...**

**And there we go! Next chapter's called 'Vanished, A Missing Man's Skeletons', and if you like these totally new adventures please go check out my other Doctor Who story. So far in it The Doctor, Rose, and Craig have rescued a princess in a land ontop of clouds, and are now stuck in a pocket dimension trying to solve a murder before they become the next victims... and it all takes places before this : ) Other than that, please review and keep on reading.**


	51. Vanished, A Missing Man's Skeletons

**Hey all, sorry it's a bit later than usual. I've just lost my motivation with thee story a bit so I've been focusing on my other two and writting some stuff for them whilst I get it back, I just need a little break so don't panic : ) Plus I've been ill the past few days so I'm updating now! A little more NCIS than I'd hoped for, but still Doctor Who as well I guess. As always Doctor Who, NCIS, and Vanished are not mine, I just own this cross over write and Craig Tyler. Enjoy : )**

**...**

**Vanished – A Missing Man's Skeletons**

It wasn't long after their bewildering conversation with Tony and McGee that Gibbs had called Abby, who had told him that on a door handle they had recovered from the fire were the remains of human DNA, which heavily implied that somebody had been trapped inside at the time of the fire. Gibbs had then taken Tony, McGee, Craig and the Doctor up to the sight for a more in depth investigation whilst Kate had taken Rose back to Ritt's store to talk with Daphne. They soon arrived, and stepped out of the car, beginning to walk up the trail through the tape off area.

'Right, so we know the fire was arson and started around the same time Newell and his helicopter disappeared. Abby's evidence makes it pretty certain someone was in the cabin' the Doctor commented as , Craig and Gibbs drew closer to the burnt out wooden remains.

'But we didn't find any remains. Maybe they got out' Tony put in.

'Somebody could have moved a body though' Craig suggested. He was beginning to get the hand of this detective thing now, and he was sure it would help him think his way out when he ran into sticky situations with the Doctor.

'Well, until we find remains, I'm not going to connect the dots. It's time to get cadaver dogs up here to aid the search' Gibbs said to Tony, just as a large grey car pulled up near them, and Clay, the farmer, stepped out.

'Cadaver dogs coming up' Tony nodded as he walked away to organize it.

'This your cabin, Mister Clay?' Gibbs called over to Clay.

'No. No. My land stops right over there at the tree line there' he pointed it out with his arm forming the imaginary line.

'Who does it belong to then?' Craig asked. He was so good at asking the right questions the Doctor couldn't help but smile at him.

'Well, nobody really. It went to the county after Monroe died' Clay shrugged.

'Well who was Monroe?' the Doctor chipped in.

'The farmer from the east side. Tried working this parcel. Didn't have no chance, though. Too hard to clear' Clay explained, looking around at the sloping land they were on.

'How did Monroe die?' Tony asked as he came back.

'Hunting…. accident. Shack's been abandoned ever since. I ain't sorry it burned, though. Kids were always using the place… causing trouble' the farmer said softly before he noticed that Gibbs had begun to look at him kind of strange, like he was calculating the man or something.

'Is something wrong?' he asked, but Gibbs suspicious eyes didn't leave him as he walked away without answering. Frowning slightly, the Doctor followed the federal agent.

'bet his bark's worse than his bite, huh?' Clay asked the two remaining agents and Craig.

'I'm beginning to think that the bite's actually much worse' Craig smiled slightly stiffly at him before he hurried off after the Doctor and Gibbs. Craig didn't trust anything that man said as far as he could throw him, and he was pretty sure the Doctor and Gibbs shared his sentiments. That man was hiding something, and they were going to find out what.

…

'Ok then, so how'd you get into all this, NCIS I mean' Rose grinned over at Kate, who was driving them back to the convenience store so they could talk with Daphne.

'Oh, well I was working on Airforce One with the President, I used to work for the Secret Service, and this guy died after having lunch with him. Turns out he was poisoned. The FBI and NCIS and the Secret Service were all arguing over who should work the case, and I teamed up with Gibbs cause I didn't really my way around a crime scene then. Anyway, eventually we discovered that it was a report trying to assassinate the president, and I resigned. Just as I was leaving Gibbs offered me and job and I took it' Kate explained, smiling fondly at the memory.

'But why quit, I mean flying around with the president of the USA must have been exciting' Rose laughed.

'Oh it was, but I was seeing this guy at the time, Tim, oh he was so sweet, but since we worked together I knew it wasn't going to work out, I needed to be at the top of my game all the time and I couldn't if he was around me. But just after I broke it off with him, he was poisoned too, and he died. After that resigning felt like the right thing to do' Kate smiled sadly.

'Oh, I'm sorry' Rose sighed.

'Nah, I'm fine now, it wasn't that serious but he didn't deserve that' Kate shrugged, just as they pulled up. The two of them got out of the car and looked around the yard around the store. Daphne was nowhere in sight.

'She definitely said noon right' Kate asked.

'Yep' Rose nodded as she looked around. But the girl they were looking for definitely wasn't there. She noticed that the barn door was open slightly.

'Come on, let's try in there' she grinned at Kate, who nodded, and cautiously the two women entered the barn. Inside the wooden structure the ground was covered in golden straw, a ladder hung nearby to the higher level, and a large blue tracker took up much of the space.

They two of them looked around, but Daphne wasn't in there either. Rose was about to walk out when she heard Kate gasp loudly in surprise and she span on the spot. Standing leaning against a wooden beam was Ritt, looking coldly suspiciously at the pair.

'What you lookin' for?' he asked them in a harsh voice.

'We… we were just…' Rose stuttered.

'We need gas' Kate invented on the spot, regaining her composure quicker them Rose. He nodded slightly, clearly not believing the story but apparently he decided to go with it.

'This way missies' he said quietly, leading them back outside. They watched as he filled the car's tank up with petrol from the inside they were sitting in, before he leant down near the window on Kate's side.

'That'll be six dollars. That's ten. That's two. Three. Four dollar. Are you sure that's all you want?' he asked once Kate had handed over the money and he'd counted out her change. Kate just stared at him as she turned on the ignition before driving them away.

'That was close' Rose was the first to speak as they put some distance between them and the creepy man. She had been beginning to forget that it wasn't just aliens that could unnerve her, but guys like he could too.

'So was' Kate nodded.

'So what do ya think happened to Daphne?' she asked Kate who shrugged.

'No idea, but I think she might hold the key to this, even if she doesn't know it yet' Kate sighed whilst Rose slumped back in her chair with a sigh. She really hoped Daphne was ok, and that they'd get this wrapped up soon.

…

After getting pretty much nowhere closer to find Newell after looking around the scene of the fire, the Doctor had suggested that it might be useful to get a bit of background information about the area, so Gibbs had decided to take him and Craig to go see the local authority at their office. They had just parked up and had been directed by the chatty elderly secretary to the correct man's office, a Captain Grant.

They politely knocked on his door and entered when he opened it, revealing a man with a gun and badge on his black belt over his green uniform. His hair was brown and thinning, but he looked harmless enough.

'Agent Gibbs and guests I assume' he greeted.

'That's us' Gibbs nodded as Grant moved aside for them to enter.

'So what can State Police do for NCIS?' he asked as he moved through his white painted office. There were several big blue chairs, and many photos of past officers lined the walls. The Doctor and Craig took seats with Gibbs right in front of his desk.

'Well, we're investigating a helicopter incident in Smoky Corners'

'Yeah, I heard. You want?' Grant asked, holding up a jug of fresh coffee.

'Sure' Gibbs nodded politely.

'Thanks' Craig smiled up at him.

'Here' Grant as he passed them all their coffee.

'Met the Sheriff' Gibbs noted aloud to Grant.

'Old Miller Thompson?' he asked.

'Yeah. But he wasn't exactly a ton of help' the Doctor commented.

' Hell, he doesn't know jack about law enforcement, but he sure loves wearing that uniform' he scoffed and the three of them chuckled slightly. Yes, the sheriff did give that impression.

'Do you get to Smoky Corners much?' Gibbs asked.

'Well, not unless they call… and they don't' he shrugged.

'What, there's no crime up there?' Craig asked disbelievingly. Out of everywhere and when he had been, he could see Smokey Corners easily having the most crime out of them all.

'Nothing we get involved in. There's a few fights. There's been some kind of feud going on up there. It goes back decades' Grant explained.

'Hmm. What, like Hatfields and McCoys?' Gibbs chuckled slightly.

'Yeah, something like that. But I honestly don't think anyone remembers how it started. It split the valley down the middle; east versus west. And I was told by my predecessor to stay clear. The truth is, they take care of their own problems' Grant told them slightly uneasily. Well that might have been true in the past, but now he was involved, the Doctor thought in his head, and he, much like them, dealt with his own problems, so god help them if they got in his way.

'Has anybody ever killed somebody else in Smoky Corners?' Craig suddenly asked.

'Not that I know of. People just die of natural causes or the occasional farm or hunting accident' Grant shrugged.

'Well I've got a feeling things might just have changed' the Doctor said solemnly, and Craig threw him an uneasy look. Something sinister was going on in that valley, a human problem for once, but even they, Craig knew they were staying until it was sorted, he just hoped that none of them got their fingers burnt in the process.

…

Since they couldn't go back to find Daphne with Ritt seeing them again, Kate and Rose had decided that the best thing to do was to go and regroup with Tony and McGee at the crop circle. They and Tony were standing under to gazebo to protect them from the sun, watching McGee moving around the cornfield crop circle with a sort of metal detector, or at least that was what Rose assumed it was. It was beeping away in a sort of metallic rhythm.

' What's McGee doing out there?' Kate couldn't help but ask.

'Scanning the field with a magnetometer' Tony almost scoffed.

'Let me guess, Abby?' Rose asked.

'Her every wish is his command' Tony shrugged.

'Didn't she promise to show him her tattoo or something' Rose remembered.

'Yeah, and I can't wait until he finds out that it's on her ankle' Kate smirked and Rose giggled, oh his face would be a perfect picture!

'So what did "gas station girl" tell you?' Tony asked, obviously referring to Daphne, whilst Kate took a sip of her bottled water she had brought from the car.

'She wasn't even there' rose sighed, just as the beeping noise grew louder and reached a higher pitch. It was detecting something. The three of them watched as McGee knelt down and began to move some of the corn away. Whatever was they surprized him for he jumped back slightly, before nervously moving some more corn. Then he frowned and pulled up… an alien head mask? And a magnet! Rose broke into hysterical laughter whilst Kate looked surprized and Tony looked at him innocently.

'That's fantastic, oh I've gotta remember that one!' Rose giggled, clutching at her side whilst an annoyed McGee threw the mask away.

'You are such a child' Kate commented and Tony grinned, whilst Rose just laughed harder. This team had such a good dynamic, she kind of didn't want their time with them to end so quickly, they were all so much fun! But like all things, she knew this would end when they find Newell, if they ever found him.

…

'Are you getting any closer to figuring this out yet' Craig asked the Doctor as Gibbs drove them back to the crop circle. Grant hadn't been able to tell them very much of use, so they had left his office and had decided to meet with the others back at the crop circle.

'Err, not yet, I still haven't a clue what's going on' the Doctor grinned down at him and he sighed.

'So glad I've got you' he said softly as Gibbs braked to a stop and they got out. Gibbs briskly walked over to the gazebo where Rose, Tony and Kate were standing.

'Hey Rose, having fun' Craig grinned at her.

'Oh barrels of it' she chuckled, looking at Tony who grinned before she broke into full on laughter.

'OK? Story for later…' he trailed off uncertain as to her reaction.

'Hey, boss. Abby needs to talk to you' Tony stated, turning on the laptop as Gibbs drew near to it. On it appeared Abby, who was looking up at the link to her lab so she could talk to them.

'Abs, did you get any sleep?' he asked.

'I am overworked and not paid enough' she joked.

'Quit. What do you got?' he demanded.

'Two partial prints on the coins from the phone booth' she informed them.

'You get a match on anyone?' Rose asked. Hopefully this would throw up a new lead for them to follow.

'Gibbs needs to send a thank you to the West Virginia DMV. They got right index prints from two licensed drivers. One was a trucker that delivered gasoline to the station. The second was a local. Greg Sikes' she grinned triumphantly.

'On it' Tony said quickly, picking up the phone they'd set up and began dialling a number, presumably to get information about this Grey Sikes character.

'Were you able to get any DNA off the doorknob, Abs?' Gibbs went on, causing her to let out a disgruntled sigh.

'Nice work on those prints, Abs' she mimicked his deeper voice.

Thank you. I know you haven't had a break in two days. Oh, that's okay. I don't need much sleep. Anything for the team' she scowled, changing from her own voice for her own bits whilst doing the deeper one for Gibbs'.

'I assume you'll let me know if you find something' Gibbs ignored her sarcasm.

'Don't I always?' she challenged.

'Yeah, Abby. You do' Gibbs nodded in praising agreement.

'Thank you' Abby said contently before she severed the link, and the screen went black. They heard a car door slam shut, and the group looked up to see Teague approaching them.

'Agent Gibbs, the cadaver dogs have found something' he greeted, and they all immediately began to follow him. He led them through the surrounding trees, into a large woody clearing. And in the centre of it, hidden by some fallen leaves, was a blacked burnt out skeletal corpse, causing Rose to cover her mouth in shock, whilst Gibbs, the Doctor, Craig, Tony and Kate looked uneasily down at it in disgust.

'Get Ducky' was Gibbs quiet and simple response, and Kate pulled out her mobile to do exactly that.

'DiNozzo, take Craig and McGee and find out where Sikes' lives' Gibbs ordered as he and the Doctor began to take a look around the area in case there was anything significant to do with the body.

'Already know Boss, he lives in a caravan not far from here, we'll check it out' Tony replied as he led Craig back through the trees, where they picked up a sulking McGee and drove a few miles down the road, pulling up by another woodland clearing, only this one had no decayed body in it, and did have a long cream coloured caravan with a folding out umbrella porch. Tony braked to a stop and the three men got out to look around.

'Smoky Corners Bachelor Quarters. There's something to be said for living in a trailer. Get tired of the view, you just roll it to a new location' Tony commented and Craig nodded in agreement. It was sort of like a much less impressive version of the Tardis. He lived in it and it always moved around, it was like a Space Caravan! Tony looked over to McGee, and Craig noted that said McGee was sporting a slightly pouting expression.

'Come on, McGee. What, are you never going to talk to me again?' Tony sighed, and Craig looked confusion. Just what the hell had happened whilst he had been absent?!

'How long am I going to be the butt of your practical jokes, the snide innuendoes and juvenile put-downs?' McGee drily asked. It was making a bit more sense to Craig after he said that though. Tony must have played a joke on McGee and that's why Rose had been laughing.

'I will always outrank you, Probie. Come on' Tony pressed past it. McGee rolled his eyes and briskly walked over to the caravan door and began knocking loudly on it.

'Mister Sikes, NCIS' he continued to knock after a few moments. Craig looked around and noted Tony seemed to have vanished, before he and McGee jumped back slightly as the door opened without warning, revealing Tony was already inside.

'Come on in' he grinned at the pair of them. McGee rolled his eyes and went inside as Craig smirked and followed him, closing the door behind them. He watched as they both pulled on gloves and began to look around. The inside was simple and all squished together, a typical caravan. Maybe it wasn't so much like the Tardis, it was tiny in there!

Tony leaned over a plate in the kitchen section, on it was a sandwich which looked freshly made, with only one bite taken out of it. Craig frowned, sandwiches were snack food, surely if you were in a rush Sikes' would have taken it to go.

'Someone left in a hurry' Tony voiced his thoughts.

'There's nothing here, not even a phone' Craig put in.

'I wouldn't be so sure of that, look at this' Tony said, holding up a photo strip. On it was a guy with dark hair and dark eyes in a grey hoodie. Next to him was a girl, a girl Craig recognised.

'That's Daphne!' he cried in surprize.

'Girlfriend?' McGee questioned.

'Well she's certainly not his sister' Tony commented as he opened the door, and the three of them left for the car. Craig's head was in a spin, he couldn't see where this was going, he just hoped things were going to take a bad turn along the way.

…

Once Ducky had arrived in the clearing of the clearing, he had looked at the corpse before having it transported back to his Autopsy room at NCIS. He had been working on it for a while by the time Gibbs and the Doctor walked in through the automatic doors.

'Duck, what can you tell me?' Gibbs asked.

'Not much. Male, roughly six feet. Test cited on femur and clavicle suggests not that old' the medical examiner explained.

'Can you give us a range?' the Doctor asked politely.

'Mid-twenties to thirties. Oh, this distinctive fracture on the inferior left scapula is consistent with a bullet wound' he said, moving across the room to where some X-rays he had taken were hanging. He pointed at a sort of crack in a bone near his neck and shoulder.

'That the cause of death?' the Doctor asked.

'Well, maybe. I mean, it could be trauma or asphyxiation. I don't know if I'll ever be certain. There's not much to work with' Ducky shrugged. There was a beep from behind them as Abby had linked to Ducky's screen to speak with them.

'Gibbs! Doctor!' she cried to get their attention and they all turned around to speak with her.

'Yeah?' Gibbs asked simply.

'I used non-isotopic chemiluminescent method to compare the charred DNA to Newell's' she began to explain.

'Uh-huh. And?' Gibbs nodded like he knew exactly what she was talking about, even though it was obvious he didn't. The Doctor couldn't help but smile.

'And it's not his DNA… but its damn close' she grinned and Gibbs sighed.

'Come on, Abs. We're not playing horseshoes' he grumbled slightly.

'There's a ninety nine percent probability that the fire victim is Newell's male sibling' she beamed at them, and the Doctor looked confused, nobody had mentioned that Newell had a brother to him.

'That can't be. Newell's record of emergency data doesn't list a brother' Gibbs argued.

'Well DNA doesn't lie, Jethro. People do' Ducky put in.

So our body was Captain Newell's brother' the Doctor realised, before he and Gibbs briskly walked out of the room in synch, into the lift, and heading up to the squad room.

…

'His O. Q. R was wrong?' Kate asked in shock. The Doctor and Gibbs had just explained that the body they had found was the brother of Newell, and Rose, Craig, Tony, and Kate were surprized to discover this new piece of information. First a man goes missing and his brother ends up dead? His secret brother? The two things had to be linked!

'Recruits lie about things all the time. Especially their age. Why lie about having a brother?' Tony thought aloud.

'Is Abby sure?' Rose wanted to know.

'Yeah. She double-checked. Obviously you two didn't' Gibbs directed the last comment at Kate and Tony.

'We just assumed that his family history was right' Kate defended them in protest. After all, how the hell were they supposed to know he'd hidden the fact he had a brother?!

'NCIS agents don't assume anything, Agent Todd. They check and recheck. Verify everything independently' Gibbs shot back.

'We are on it!' Tony chipped in before anyone could reply and get Gibbs even more worked up. The Doctor and Craig sighed, was this case ever going to be solved?!

…

A few phones calls later, and it seemed as though Kate and Tony had cleared up a few things about Newell's past, and the Doctor, Rose and Craig, not to mention Gibbs, were all eagerly awaiting the answer.

'Orange County clerk faxed us his parents' marriage certificate. Todd Newell was nine years old when his mother remarried. He was legally adopted; that's how he got the Newell name. His mother's maiden name was Stelling, which is common in Smoky Corners' Kate explained to them.

'Her first husband was a guy named Sikes. They had two boys, Greg and Todd' Tony added.

'So Todd Newell was born in Smoky Corners' Craig realised.

'His co-pilot, Captain Barnett, swears that he never mentioned a brother or Smoky Corners. In fact, Barnett couldn't recall Newell ever mentioned anything about his childhood' Kate, who had spoken to him by phone, put in.

'We need to find his biological father' Gibbs noted.

'Can't. He died several years ago… in a hunting accident' Tony replied in an almost mocking voice. The Doctor rolled his eyes at the excuse.

'Now where have I heard that one before?' he asked sarcastically.

' So we got a dead civilian in Ducky's cooler. Are we going to turn it over to the local authorities?' Tony asked his boss.

'Nope. Not yet. I want to know more first' Gibbs shook his head.

'Greg Sikes was going out with the girl at the gas station Daphne, maybe we should go and try to find her, she seemed like the only one who wanted to talk?' Craig suggested.

'Kate, Tony, take Rose and Craig with you' Gibbs nodded and the four of them headed for the lift, just as Abby and McGee rounded the corner, heading for Gibbs' desk.

'All right, so we're on the same page, right?' McGee was saying to her.

'I guess. Let me tell Gibbs' she sighed.

'Tell me what?' he demanded.

'The crop circle was a hoax created around the helicopter after it landed' she replied in an almost bored voice, totally unconvincing in what she was saying. The Doctor grinned, that girl wasn't easily put off.

'You don't sound convincing, Abs' Gibbs commented with a light smirk.

'Yeah, well there's still a lot of stuff that can't be explained' she protested and McGee sighed in annoyance.

'Mm-hmm. Like what?' the Doctor asked, he was clearly trying to test her.

'Balls of light in the sky. The animals acting weird. Warped DNA strands. Like a missing pilot' she listed off sarcastically and he smiled at her, yep, she passed! Gibbs frowned, looked deep in thought.

'Everyone's story is exactly the same. It's too rehearsed. It's what they want us to hear' he voiced his opinion.

'Exactly what I told her' McGee nodded at Abby.

'What about the search dogs? I heard they were acting all confused and disoriented' Abby pointed out.

'Only the first day. The cadaver dogs had no problem finding the body this morning' Gibbs countered, before another look of deep thought crossed his face. He got to his feet and smiled slightly, he had clearly just had a light-bulb moment.

'I know why we haven't been able to find Captain Newell. Thanks, guys' he set off up the stairs, and confused and curious, the Doctor hurried after him, wondering what he had put together.

…

At the top of the stairs, Gibbs immediately went over to a scanner on the wall, on iris scanner. He peered into it, and a few moments later a heavy looking door opened.

'I shouldn't really take you in here, but since when am I one to follow the rules' Gibbs smirked as he led the Doctor into a darkened room. Two rows of banks lined each side, a huge wall sized screen formed the front wall, and a stand of seats formed the back one.

'Sir, this man doesn't have authorisation…' a young man with blonde hair began to speak up, pointing at the Doctor before Gibbs cut him off.

'He's with me' he said coldly, and the man when back to his seat, looking slightly imitated. Gibbs was apparently as charming as he looked with everyone.

'Connect me to Colonel Teague' Gibbs ordered, and after a few moments a giant sized Teague appeared on the screen.

'Gibbs, Doctor' he greeted them.

'Colonel Teague' Gibbs replied whilst the Doctor nodded politely.

'What's the news?' Teague asked.

'We're still searching for Newell' Gibbs stated softly.

'Newell is alive?' Teague asked disbelievingly.

'Yeah' the Doctor nodded.

'Well, whose body did we find?' Teague asked in confusion.

'His brother. Captain Newell is still out there' Gibbs explained.

'How do you know that?' Teague wanted to know, and the Doctor turned to look at Gibbs too, since he still didn't know how Gibbs knew that.

'He received SERE training, Colonel. He's evading us. As part of his training, he was taught a technique to negate enemy dogs' Gibbs began to explain.

'Yeah, G. S. powder… irritant used in gas mask simulations. I keep a couple of capsules in my survival vest. Dogs get a whiff of that, they're useless for days' Teague noted aloud.

'He used it on the search dogs. Now he also has pilot's night vision goggles and a survival radio to monitor our search frequencies. Colonel, he's using his Marine Corps training to evade us' Gibbs pointed out and the Doctor sighed. Newell was looking less and less like a victim right now, and more to the point, why the hell was he avoiding the people who wanted to help him?! He let out another sigh; human beings could be so confusing when they wanted to be! But this was one mystery he'd sunk his teeth into, and he wouldn't let go until he'd discovered the truth.

**...**

**And there's part three. Anyway, next chapter sees the end of Vanished and then it's onto the third book, Winner Takes All. Not really sure how long it will be, my Digimon fic is in my head at the minute but I'll be back to my normal Doctor Who centered self soon enough ; ) Thank you all for your continued reviewing and please carry on ; )**


	52. Vanished, A Missing Man Found

**And here's the final part of Vanished! Not really that much to say, just that I hope you enjoy, and please know that whilst Doctor isn't mine, Craig Tyler is ; ) Read on at your own risk, because A man who once Vanished is about to be found...**

**...**

**Vanished – A Missing Man Found**

Once they had left NCIS, Craig and Rose were sitting in the back of the car. Tony was in the front passenger seat, and Kate was driving. Clearly bored, Tony had taken to beating out a tune loudly with his hands against the dashboard. Craig and Rose were chatting quietly in the back.

'Will you stop that? You're driving me crazy!' Kate cried in annoyance, most likely getting a headache.

'Sorry' Tony muttered as he stopped. Craig thought he heard him come out with a snide remark about Kate's 'Time of the Month' but he was too busy talking to his sister to actually hear what they were saying.

'Do you think we'll find Newell then?' he asked her.

'I hope so, but I'm beginning to think he isn't a victim anymore, or like a suspect' she sighed.

'Becoming a right little detective aren't ya?' he grinned at her.

'Aye, just call me Sherlock Rose' she laughed.

'Only if you call me Craig Poirot' he chuckled, remembering their names in the Cluedo pocket dimension, just as they pulled to a stop and the four of them got out. They were outside of Sikes' Caravan, and a big blue truck was parked by a tree.

'Daphne wasn't at the gas station. If she's not there, I don't know where else to look' Tony commented. They had looked at the store first but Daphne was nowhere to be seen there. This was their only other option; if she wasn't there they had no chance of finding the only person who might actually help them.

'If she loves him she'll be here' Rose said confidently.

'Well that's Daphne's truck' Kate pointed to the blue vehicle.

'And that's Daphne!' Craig cried as she saw her jump into the driver's seat. Rose, Craig and Tony all ran to get in front whilst Kate jumped back in the car and drove it forwards, blocking Daphne's potential path away from them.

'Daphne please we just wanna talk' Rose cried as the frightened girl leapt out of the driver's side and began to run away. Rose and Craig darted after her, followed by Kate and Tony, but Rose snagged her arm and held on tight, stopping Daphne from pulling away.

'Daphne, please stop running, we just wanna talk, I thought that's what you wanted' Rose cried as Daphne continued to struggle whilst Craig got around in front of her to look at her face. He gasped as he saw a huge red and purple angry blotchy bruise forming around her eye.

'Oh my god, what happened?' he asked in alarm, and with a defeated sigh Daphne stilled.

'What happened?' Kate asked the question again in concern when she didn't answer.

'Are you looking for Greg?' Rose asked her.

'We know he's your boyfriend. That's why we're here looking for you, okay?' Tony echoed with.

'Where is he?' she asked in a pleading tone, close to tears. Craig frowned as he noticed where her hands were. She was gently clutching her stomach, and his eyes widened.

'Daphne, are you pregnant?' he asked her in a gentle voice. Slowly, Daphne nodded her head.

'Five months. Greg's hiding from my daddy. Do you know where he is?' she begged to know, but apparently their saddened faces were answer enough for the girl who was now carrying a dead man's child.

'Greg's dead, isn't he?' she asked weakly, and when Rose gave her a gentle nod she let out a choked sob. Rose slowly brought the poor girl into her arms and held her close, whilst Kate stroked her hair in comfort. And that was how they'd stay for now, comforting the lonely girl with her unborn child.

…

The Doctor couldn't help but laugh at the petrified expression on McGee's face whilst Gibbs drove on like a lunatic. They were going to meet the others at the caravan and Gibbs was clearly in a hurry, this was more the evident as he sped around narrowly hitting a large white truck.

'Whatever Newell's brother said to him on the phone got him upset enough to risk his entire career with an unauthorized flight in the Cobra' Gibbs noted aloud as they narrowly missed another car.

'Boss, are you sure you don't want me to drive for a while?' McGee asked nervously and the Doctor grinned even wider, he thought Gibbs' driving was quite fun, like a rollercoaster!

'But why land in the farmer's field?' Gibbs carried on, without even acknowledging McGee had spoken.

'Uh… well…' McGee stuttered distractedly.

'My guess, McGee, it was the closest clearing to the cabin where his brother was hiding. Only Newell was too late' he explained.

'Sikes was already dead by then' the Doctor realised.

'Yeah, but why the crop circle?' Gibbs wondered aloud.

'Well, I've actually have an idea about that' the Doctor smiled and Gibbs turned to look at him, apparently not noticing the whimpers McGee was now making that Gibbs wasn't even watching where they were going.

'Okay, whoever killed Greg Sikes thought that they could cover it up as another farm or hunting accident. But they couldn't cover up an attack helicopter abandoned in a corn field. And they'd know there'd be an outside investigation, so they create a crop circle around the helicopter, thinking that if anyone asked they wouldn't be able to explain it and just… cover it up' the Doctor explained.

'Not bad, Doctor, You're not bad at all' Gibbs grinned as he skidded to a stop, much to the relief of McGee. He had stopped because they had arrived at the caravan, and could clearly see Craig and Tony standing alone outside.

'Hello' the Doctor grinned at them.

'Where are they?' Gibbs asked as a greeting.

'Daphne's inside with Rose and Kate, she seemed to find it easier to talk to them' Craig spoke up for Tony.

'Enjoy the ride, McGee?' said Tony smirked at a slightly green McGee, who rolled his eyes in response. At the same time, the Doctor and Gibbs, followed by Craig headed into the caravan, with Tony and McGee behind them.

It was dark inside, and Daphne was sitting on the edge of the bed, Rose had an arm around her shoulder whilst Kate was sitting opposite in front of the grieving girl. But the moment she saw them, she stood up and went over to them.

'Daphne's father threatened to kill Greg because she's pregnant' she explained, and Gibbs said the last word with her, for he had clearly already worked it out. Man that guy was good! The Doctor couldn't help but think. At this point Daphne turned to them to speak up for herself.

'Greg and me are from different corners in the valley. God, I hate this rotten place. This stupid feud…' she trailed off miserably.

'When was the last time you saw him?' the Doctor gently asked her. He knew the pain she was feeling, the pain of losing the one you cared about. He was so glad he had Rose and Craig to fill that void now, and he'd do all he could to never feel that pain again.

'At the gas station… using the pay phone to call his brother for help' was the sad reply.

'Was Greg close to his brother?' Rose asked her.

'He ain't seen him since they was kids. About a year ago he got a call telling him their mother died. It reunited them. They're the only family either of them had left' she explained with a sad sort of smile.

'Daphne's afraid Captain Newell's been drawn back into the feud' Kate explained to the Doctor and Gibbs.

'He's gonna kill my daddy to get revenge' she whispered fearfully.

'It'll be alright' Craig shushed her soothingly.

'He's right, Kate and McGee can take you somewhere safe' Gibbs assured her, and with a comforting squeeze for Rose, Daphne nodded slightly, and Kate gently pulled her to her feet and led her from the caravan, McGee right behind her. The other men swiftly left the caravan too and closed the door behind them. Gibbs looked out into the darkness and let out a sigh before he pulled out his phone.

'Who're you calling?' the Doctor asked. Gibbs didn't reply, opting to talk to whoever answered the other phone. So the Doctor went and stood closer to the federal agent so he could hear the call. Surprisingly Gibbs didn't seem to mind, and he didn't move away.

'Colonel Teague' the voice greeted.

'Call off the search. Pull your men out' Gibbs ordered with no small talk.

'Why? You said Newell was still out there' was Teague's confused reply.

'He is. He wants revenge… but he's not going to make his move until he thinks we're gone' Gibbs explained before he hung up. The Doctor looked at him, silently asking what they would do next.

'Come on, we've got two criminals to pick up' the leading agent sighed once more, and they all piled back into the car and drove off, heading for the convenience store.

…

'Right, you three wait here; Gibbs told them as Tony pulled out his gun. The five of them were standing just outside the store, about to arrest the two men inside, Ritt and Sheriff Thompson. Gibbs and Tony headed in, leaving the three travellers alone.

'So then, what now?' the Doctor asked. If they wanted to go and leave them to it, it would be easy, or so he thought.

'We can't go until this is sorted' Craig told him firmly

'I thought as much' the Doctor smiled, of course neither of them would want to go until this was sorted, they were both too good for that!

'No, I mean we literally can't go, Gibbs' team took the Tardis to NCIS, we saw her being unloaded' the blonde man explained and the Doctor sighed. Just at that moment a blue police car pulled up, and two men in blue shirts and black trousers with sunglasses got out.

'We got a call from a Special Agent Gibbs to take two suspects into custody' one of the officers said.

'He's in there' the Doctor nodded towards the door and they both went inside. The door had barely closed when Sheriff Thompson and Ritt Everett were dragged out, both handcuffed, and pushed into the car, their faces filled with anger and shock that they had been caught. Moments later Gibbs and Tony reappeared.

'And now?' the Doctor asked.

'Now we wait for Newell' Gibbs said quietly.

…

It had been a tense few hours waiting around the store until it got dark, with some light chat between the trio and the team to try and get to know each other a little better, but everybody was too worked up to really take much of it in. as the darkness descended, Gibbs had ordered them all into the barn to wait in their positions. He had tried to make the Doctor, Rose and Craig wait in the store, but needless to say they had point blank refused. So he was covering the Doctor at the edge of the barn, near to the store's wall. Kate was on the other side of the barn, leaning against the outer wall with Rose, whilst Craig was peering through a missing plank hole in the inside of the barn, whilst Tony stood protectively in front of him. McGee was stationed close to the store's truck. The four agents all had their guns drawn, and the Doctor frowned at Gibbs.

'I really hate guns' he softly commented.

'Well, they're sometimes necessary' Gibbs shrugged him off. The Doctor was about to reply when Tony's voice rang through the earpiece systems Gibbs had given them all before they had taken position.

'Gibbs, I have a bogey. In the trees' Tony stated.

'He's coming towards us from the northwest' Craig's voice added.

'Everybody copy?' Gibbs asked to confirm.

'Yeah Boss' McGee's voice replied quickly.

'Gotcha' Rose's came.

'Got it' Kate said at the same time as her.

'He slipped behind the old cars' Tony's voice informed them.

'Let him get closer' Gibbs ordered.

'Roger that' Tony replied. Suddenly there came a sort of stumbling noise from the background, before Tony's voice drifted through the line again.

'Oh, man. He made us' he exclaimed.

'Hit the lights!' Gibbs called, not bothering to keep his voice down now Newell knew they were there. They had set up large spotlights earlier to surprize Newell if need be, the Doctor's idea, and it was a good one as when the blinding light came, the man they'd been looking from halted, shielding his face with his hands. He looked like his photo to the exact detail and was wearing his camouflaged uniform, but it was a little ragged and frayed. He had a bleeding cut to his forehead and his gun was drawn.

The group began to close around him, Gibbs in the lead. The four agents' guns were all trained on the revenge seeking man.

'NCIS! Lower your weapon, Captain Newell! It's over' Gibbs called to him.

'It's not over until Ritt Everett's dead' was the harsh rasping reply.

'He's in the custody of the State Police' Gibbs replied.

'That's not going to change anything. It's an eye for an eye here. Always has been' he spat back.

'Is that why your mother took you away' Rose spoke up to him in a gentle voice. All the others watched his saddened reaction, her comment had really hit him hard.

'Put down your weapon' Gibbs told him quietly.

'Why? I'm never going to fly again' Newell stated, his voice a little choked up.

'Well, your career is probably over, but you haven't hurt anybody yet. Keep it that way and I'll do everything I can to help you' Gibbs assured him.

'There is a young girl carrying your brother's baby. And they could sure use your help' Rose told him in one last ditch attempt to get him to give himself up before he got hurt, and with another surprized look, Newell's gun fell to the ground. Rose, Craig and the Doctor all watched the poor man sadly get dragged into the car before they slowly followed, and soon they were back at NCIS.

…

The Doctor, Rose, Craig, Tony and Kate were all standing in the darkened observation room. On the other side of the glass Gibbs sat interviewing Newell. He had just asked Newell about his mother, as Gibbs knew that that was the key to this.

'Once we left, it was like Smoky Corners never existed. My mother erased it from our lives. I always felt guilty she had to leave Greg behind, but my father wouldn't let her have both of us' Newell was explaining.

'Why did you take the Cobra?' Gibbs asked quietly.

'It's fierce. Intimidating. I hoped it would scare the crap out of those hicks and save Greg's life. But I was too late. The cabin was in flames. Greg trapped inside. Everett and the others started shooting at me and I got hit. They had hunting rifles. All I had was my pistol. I was cut off from the helo and couldn't get back to the base. I knew my Marine Corps career was over. All that was left for me was revenge' Newell explained in an emotionless tone.

'It's kind of pitiful' Rose said sadly from their side of the glass, gaining some small nods of agreement.

…

'Here it is' Abby grinned as she pulled a large black cover of a large box in the evidence garage, revealing the Tardis. The Doctor, Rose and Craig's faces all lit at the sight of it. Gibbs, Kate, Tony, McGee, and Ducky were all standing around them, preparing to say goodbye.

'So what is this thing then?' Tony asked curiously

'Only the most fantastic thing in the universe' the Doctor beamed.

'What's inside it?' Gibbs asked.

'A room of magic' Craig chuckled.

'I don't…' Gibbs started before the Doctor, Rose, and Craig all cut him off.

'I don't believe in magic' they said at the same time and they all laughed. They seemed to get the hint that they weren't going to tell the secret.

'So then, what now, will you stay, you're all good' Gibbs asked.

'Oh no, sorry, we're always moving, on the road' the Doctor shook his head.

'With a big blue box?' Ducky asked in wonder.

'Not with, in' the Doctor grinned. He opened the door to the Tardis and stepped inside. Rose moved forwards and pulled Kate into a hug. A few moments later she released the agent and moved over to Abby and hugged her too, who smiled sadly as she hugged her friend back.

'Goodbye, and all of you, stay exactly how you are, you're all fantastic' she smiled proudly at them, before she too followed the Doctor into the Tardis.

'Thanks, you know, for showing us that even in a place like Smokey Corners mystery and wonder can be found' Craig grinned as he shook all their hands, before he went to step inside too.

'But remember Craig, words are to be read, you should stop and take a proper look' Ducky said to him, and Craig 's smiled faded slightly as he remembered about the Bad Wolf waiting for them.

'Thanks, and look after each other' he forced his smile back, before he stepped into the Tardis and closed the door behind them. As he approached the console, he couldn't help but laugh at the image on the screen. The team were standing there, their faces lined with confusion as to what was going to happen now.

'You need a new trick' Craig teased him. He really loved watching this bit but he loved teasing his best friend more, and this was a perfect opportunity.

'Aw, but it's an oldie but a goodie' the Doctor pretended to pout.

'I love it' Rose giggled and they all laughed once more.

'So, onwards?' Craig asked.

'Onwards' the Doctor confirmed, and they watched as the entire team's jaws dropped in perfect synch as the Tardis faded away, before the screen went blank.

…

It was a few hours later and the Doctor still couldn't help but think about just what the last adventure had taught him. He'd grown so accustom to adventures always having an alien behind them that he'd forgotten that even in the most unlikely places, wonder could be found without them. And the reason was that there were human beings there.

He sighed as he the word human drifted through his mind, and he looked towards the hallway in which his two humans were currently sleeping. Rose was fine, well more than fine quite frankly brilliant, but Craig? He was seriously getting worried for his friend now. And he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep putting this off. He had seen exactly how different his DNA was becoming. It was so unstable, drenched in time energy, warping and mutating into something else, something new.

And by god he wanted to stop it, he wanted it more than anything, the only problem was, he had no idea how. And if he started testing it, if one single thing when wrong, Craig would be dead within minutes. No, that wasn't a risk he could take. But what was the alternative; watch his friend become something not even recognisable as human? Which was worse?

He sighed again and stalked off towards his room to get some sleep. He would just have to hope the changes would die down for now, maybe then Craig's genes would stabilize and he'd be able to get a clearer idea of what was happening to the man who had practically become his little brother, the man he would whole hearted throw his life away for too keep him safe and happy. And that was what he'd have to be for now, happy, because when he was happy Rose and Craig were happy, and that was exactly what he wanted right now. He wanted his friends to be safe and happy and he'd do anything to ensure that they stayed that way.

**...**

**And there's the end of another adventure! So no new aliens this time, but there are more to come in both this and The Lost Tales of Craig Tyler ; ) And I know that some of you wanted the team to find out the truth about them but I think it would have thrown the episode off too much, so sorry about that. Now I know that some of you are anxious for Father's Day, and I have most of it written, but first it's onto the third Doctor Who book, Winner Takes All. I hope to have the first chapter of it up on Monday as a Christmas Present to my lovely readers, so enjoy!**


	53. Winner Takes All, Playing Games

**Yeah! So here's my Christmas Present to all my readers, the first chapter of Winner Takes All : ) So not much to say other then Craig Tyler is mine but Doctor Who is not : )**

**...**

**Winner Takes All**

**Winner Takes All – Playing Games**

Craig wandered into the control room in a baggy blue hoodie and black jeans. He waved in greeting at the Doctor and Rose through a yawn as he went over to them.

'Morning, so what's the plan today' he asked.

'I wanna call Mum and this big baby's scared' Rose giggled, indicating at the Doctor. Today she was wearing a pink hoodie over a white t-shirt and a black shirt and tights.

'I am NOT scared, it's just I don't fancy being slapped by her is all' he indignantly pointed out.

'You made it through her dinner without her killing you, stop worrying' Craig laughed. Sighing, the Doctor hung his head in defeat as Rose brought out her mobile and dialling their mother's mobile number.

'Hello?' the voice of Jackie answered.

'Hey mum' Rose smiled.

'Rose! Oh you'll never believe it Rose, I've won the lottery, gotta go get my prize' Jackie cried delightedly before the line was cut off. Completely bemused, Rose returned the phone to her pocket.

'What happened?' Craig asked when he saw her face.

'She said she won the lottery' she said sounding slightly stunned.

'She's what?' Craig cried in shock. There was no way, mum always had said that the lottery was a waste of money they hadn't had. She barely ever played! She occasionally put in Rose's shop's lottery syndicate, but very rarely!

'I wanna go check on her' Rose turned to the Doctor, who sighed before he reluctantly nodded. He began running around the Tardis, and soon he slowly opened the doors, fearfully looking out. Rose giggled and pushed past him, as did Craig. They looked around to find themselves in the courtyard. Rose ran straight for the stairs, concern for their mother written across her face, but Craig waited for the Doctor to lock up the Tardis.

'Why does she always land here?' he asked curiously as they set off.

'No idea, it seems to be a favourite spot of hers, although why she likes being so close to your mother I'll never know' he commented.

'Oh come on she's not that bad, she even complimented you last time' Craig sighed as they started up the stairs. He wished the Doctor would stop being mean about his mum. He loved the Doctor like a brother, just like he loved Rose, but she was his mum, he loved her too, and he was sick of the Doctor whining about her.

'Really?' the Doctor asked disbelievingly.

'Yeah, she said you were good to have around in a crisis. See, she's not that bad, and she's my mum, so stop bitching about her' Craig waved a reproachful finger at his friend.

'Fine, but if she slaps me I'm going back into the Tardis and locking the door' he pouted as they reached the corridor outside the flat, where Rose was using her key to get in. They swiftly followed her inside before closing the door.

They went into the living room, and there she was, Jackie Tyler, some plastic carrier bags in her arms which she hastily put down before fling her arms around Rose and Craig, who hugged her back.

'Ah, my Rose and Craig, you both look fantastic' she smiled at them both as they all apart. Her eyes narrowed as they fell onto the anxious looking Doctor hovering awkwardly at the edge of the room.

'Doctor' she greeted less than warmly.

'Jackie' he nodded politely, his expression clearly saying he'd rather be anywhere but where he was.

'Oh it's so good to see you two' her bubbly happiness returned as she looked at her children.

'Yep, we just came to see what you meant about the lottery' Rose explained.

'Considering you don't even play' Craig grinned.

'Oh of course, you wouldn't know! I didn't mean the actually lottery, it's not money you win. It's a new promotion in the area, it's brilliant' she explained happily as she went into the kitchen to start unpacking her shopping. Rose and Craig joined her, making them all some tea as they helped, and soon they were all in the living, sitting with the Doctor.

'So what'd you win?' Rose asked interestedly.

'One of those games things, A CD for the computer. Mickey's always playing them so I gave it to him' she shrugged, digging around in her pocket for something. She soon pulled out a bit of orange coloured paper, handing it to Rose. Curiously Craig looked at it over her shoulder. It had a silver bit in the middle that had been scratched off, like a scratch card, and at the bottom right corner a grinning porcupine holding his thumb up. In big yellow letters at the top were the words 'Percy the Porcupine'.

'Percy the Porcupine? What's that about?' Craig asked.

'it's just in our area, you get a card each time you buy something, can be anything, and if you win, you take the ticket to one of these booths they've set up in the streets. Then a guy dressed up as a big porcupine gives you a prize, it's great fun, I got this watch off it' she held up her wrist, revealing a bright pink watch with a white face on her wrist.

'Nice, I like it' Rose giggled. Craig smiled as the Doctor rolled his eyes at the domestic scene he sitting in.

'So you can win different types of stuff, you said you gave Mickey a game' Craig asked and Jackie turned to him.

'Yeah, they're mainly for the young lads though, it's mainly them who play it but there some other stuff that others can win. But you don't get to pick your prize, that's how I got my watch, Mickey swapped me it for the game' she explain.

'We might as well pop round and see him since we're here' Rose suggested.

'Great, first the Oncoming Slap, then Ricky the idiot, is this entire day going to be wasted' the Doctor cursed under his breath, but luckily for him Jackie never heard him.

'Right, well if you're going, come back and say ta-ra before you go' Jackie smiled at them as they got up to leave, and with another cold tolerating nod at the Doctor, she shut the door behind them.

'Oh, so many domestics are sickening to a Time Lord' the Doctor complained as they started down the stairs.

'No that's just you, you're a serial whiner' Craig smirked at his mockingly outraged expression.

'Am not' the Doctor shot back.

'Are so' Craig stuck his tongue out. Rose couldn't help but laugh as they kept on repeating themselves as they got to the bottom of the stairs and crossed the courtyard. They went up another flight of stairs, and eventually came to Mickey's flat.

'Are so' Craig grinned as the door open, cutting the Doctor off as a rather shocked Mickey stood on the other side.

'Rose!' he cried delighted after a few moments before wrapping her in a hug.

'Hey Mickey' she laughed as he twirled her on the spot before they broke apart.

'How you doing Rickey?' the Doctor grinned teasingly at him.

'It's Mickey' he replied with his own grin. At least things seemed a little friendlier between them now, that was something.

'Pay no attention to him, his been in a right cranky mood all day' Craig teased him.

'Am not' was the cheeky reply, and Craig opened his mouth to continue their petty little game but Rose cut him off.

'OK, that's enough of that now. We just stopped by since we were visiting mum after she told us she won the lottery' Rose explained as he moved aside to let them in.

'Ah, she told you about Percy the Porcupine' Mickey nodded as he led them towards his rather messy bedroom.

'Yep, she told us she swapped you a video game' Craig grinned. He knew just how much Mickey loved those things; and he himself had once, but now he got to have real adventures, and that was by far more fantastic!

'Yeah, I was just playing it' he grinned happily as he sat down at his computer, and Rose, Craig, and even the Doctor hovered behind him to look. On the screen in big fiery letters were the words 'Death to Mantodeans'.

'Mantodeans, why does that name ring a bell' the Doctor said to himself thoughtfully.

'It's so cool that Jackie gave me this, I've wanted it for ages' Mickey said excitedly.

'Oh go on then, tell me what's so great about this one' Rose groaned. Mickey always bored her with the details about his stupid games, but since he looked so happy about it and she hadn't since him in ages, she decided if he wanted to talk about it that would be alright, only for a little bit anyway.

'Everyone's playing it, trying to finish it' he began to explain.

'Why, why would everyone want to finish it' the Doctor asked curiously. He was actually interested now. He knew the name Mantodeans from somewhere, he just couldn't think of it. And it would drive him mad until he found it out!

'There's this big cash prize for anyone who finishes it, and nobody has yet' he grinned up at them. He clearly wanted to win this a lot. Craig chuckled at him; it was so Mickey to want to prove he was the best at these games. He looked over his enormous collection, thinking that he'd probably already finished most of them, when one of the names hit him. BAD WOLF. Mickey had a game called BAD WOLF. He picked it up with shivering fingers and looked at the cover.

A woman was standing with her arms held out wide, golden light surrounding her, her gold hair flapping around. On the floor covering by her feet was the back of a man's head; he was wearing a leather jacket. On the floor in the bottom right hand corner was a man lying on his back, his blonde hair hanging around his face. The background was all grey and blurred, as were the faces for effect, but it vaguely reminded him of… something, something staring him right in the face. He just didn't know what. He put the game back on the shelf and turned his attention back to the others, where Mickey was explaining about what you had to do for the game.

'It has all these puzzles to solve, really hard ones you have to really think about' he was saying.

'No wonder nobody's passed it yet, the human race are all idiots' the Doctor drily commented.

'Human, Human, Human… dead' Craig pointed to himself, Rose, Mickey in turn, saying dead when pointing at the Doctor, who smiled nervously.

'Now now kids, play nice' Rose mockingly told him off and they all laughed.

'Yeah, but it's like there's this glitch in it, cause sometimes it doesn't save your game and you have to start over' Mickey finished off.

'Well, since we're in the area anyway, budge over, let me have a go' the Doctor ordered Mickey, taking the controller from him. Craig burst into laughter at the sight of him.

'What?' the Doctor frowned in confusion.

'The Doctor?! Mr Domestics aren't me, is playing a video game?' he laughed. The Doctor just grinned and nodded at him before turning back to the screen. A Sudoku popped onto the screen, but it only took him a matter of seconds to have it solved.

'He's good, the Sudoku always take me ages' Mickey commented as they watched.

'That's cause you're thick' the Doctor commented, not taking his eyes off the screen. Mickey just laughed at him. They watched as the little video character moved forwards and the graphics showed a door opening. Out of it came a villain, a giant praying mantises type creature, but the Doctor had the character fired his gun at the thing. A few hits later and it faded away, defeated.

'Bravo' Craig commented as the Doctor had the character carry on.

'You don't like guns' Rose commented as she watched. She was clearly thinking back to the investigation with Gibbs and the team and the fact that they all had guns.

'I hate guns. Which isn't to say that a bit of fantasy violence can't be therapeutic.' He smiled slightly as he carried on playing the game.

'Anyway, have you got something to eat, I haven't had breakfast yet, I'm starving' Craig complained, rubbing his belly softly.

'I've nothing in' mickey commented, amazed by the progress the Doctor was making in the game. Rose rolled her eyes as he didn't even take his eyes of the scene.

'Fine, I'll go get something, leave you boys to your game' she commented as she moved towards the door.

'Aw, thanks sis!' Craig grinned as he wrapped her up in a hug, causing her to laugh.

'Get off, I'll be back in a bit' she smiled, and a few moments later she was gone, just as the Doctor blew up another enemy and Craig and Mickey cheered.

…

Rose couldn't help but laugh as she crossed the courtyard towards the shops. Those three were such little boys on the inside at times, even the Doctor! Playing videos games, ha! She'd so tease them about this in the future.

'Well, look who it is, Little Miss Missing Tyler, drove that poor slapper of a mother of yours round the twist, you and your gay boy brother, when you both vanished, right family of lunatics the lot of you' a snide voice commented and she scowled. She knew that voice, and turning around, sure enough, there was Darren Pye.

He was tall and lanky, with a spotty face and gingery red hair and matching stubbly beard wearing a grey hoodie with his hood up and black track suit bottoms. He was cute in a way, but his attitude stank. He was a bully, and everyone on the estate wanted to see the back of him.

She point blank ignored him as she went into the shop and slowly went around the aisles. The longer she could delay getting back to a no doubt boring video game festival, the happier she'd be. She went over to the counter and paid for the shopping, trying not to blush at the way the cutely hansom guy serving her was smiling at her, before she headed back out. She scowled again when she saw Pye was still there, before an outraged looked overtook her feature when she saw what he was doing.

He was throwing an armful of stones at a yelping elderly woman. She recognised her as Mrs Desai from number 82. She was a bit of a prideful woman but kind enough; with dark skin and wispy white her. She was whimpering slightly as she tried to escape up the stairs.

'Oi! Stop that' she shrieked, running at him. As he turned on the spot she lifted up the bag and flung it through the air. As it hit him the plastic bottle of milk burst and went everyway. He growled as he got covered in the white liquid, and Rose couldn't help but laugh at the sight of him, dripping wet.

He growled and turned towards her, glaring menacingly at her.

'Oh you think that's funny, you think that's funny you bitch, I'll show you something funny' he snarled, sticking his hand into his pocket and Rose stopped laughing as he produced a short flick neck. He smiled as he noticed the effect it had had on her. She wasn't exactly scared, but she was definitely more nervous than amused mow.

'Yeah, I thought so, let's see how funny you find this' he grinned as he charged towards her, knife raised above his head wildly.

'Hurt her and you mincemeat' a cold voice sounded, and Rose grinned in relieve as she spotted the Doctor and Craig behind him, glaring coldly at him as he turned to face him.

'Oh, and the fag joins us, who he then, your dad? Oh wait no, he can't be, he died all on his own in the road didn't he, such a waste, a waste of space he was, that's it' Pye roared with laughter.

'Keep going Pye and I'll put you back into the hospital. What was it, a broken nose, now that must be embarrassing, getting your nose broken by a gay man, pathetic' Craig scoffed. Pye was the man who he'd punched in the face, and that had warned anybody else on the estate not to mess with him.

'Whatever, he's welcome to the pair of you, freaks' Pye shot at the two Tylers before he stalked away down an alleyway and out of sight.

'Are you alright' Craig asked her in concern.

'Yeah, it was my own fault, I hit him with my bag and the milk covered him' she explained.

'Why did you hit him?' the Doctor asked curiously.

'He was throwing stones at Mrs Desai, she's seventy two for god's sake' she sighed. The Doctor chuckled proudly at her.

'Rose Tyler, always a hero whether it be a planet or an old lady' he smiled.

'Anyway, enough about that, why are you two here, I thought you were holing yourselves up at Mickey's' she suddenly thought aloud. Craig smirked at the Doctor slightly and she was even more curious as to why they'd left.

'Oh, we just sensed that you were in trouble' the Doctor shrugged, so she turned to her brother who began laughing.

'Mickey didn't take it too great when the Doctor wiped the floor with all his high scores' he laughed and she giggled loudly.

'Well in my defence, Mickey's useless at that game' the Doctor cried defensively.

'He beat him by three thousand points' Craig added and Rose laughed even harder, poor Mickey!

'Anyway, he chucked us out and said we weren't allowed back in until he'd wiped the Doctor of the score board' Craig explained as they began to walk around the courtyard, just wandering for the time being.

'Like that'll ever happen' the Doctor said smugly. They had no idea that up above them, Mickey's front door was broken through, and as they walked towards the edge of the estate, he didn't hear his desperate calls for help.

…

'Look at these, Percy the Porcupine' Craig noted aloud. The three of them had been walking down the street, heading for the bus stop because Rose had wanted to check out one of those booths that had been set up. Craig had noticed stuck to the walls were load of these posters, orange and big blown up versions of the scratch card Jackie had shown them, all with Percy giving them the thumb up.

The Doctor looked very closely at one, frowning ever so slightly.

'How can humans fit into suits like that, you're like Slitheen' he softly commented.

'Oh thanks for that' Craig sighed as he thought back to the Slitheen he'd met back in Justica.

'Sorry, bad choice of words' the Doctor threw him a sincere apologetic look.

'Yeah well, never mind, water under the bridge and all that, let's go check out these booths than' Craig sighed again as once more they set off for the bus stop. They'd only been waiting a few moments when it turned up and they boarded it.

Riding with the Doctor was hilarious. He kept complaining about who big and bulky it was and how they were always slow and late. Rose groan in embarrassment whilst Craig just kept laughing, especially when the Doctor was wrongly blamed for an elder woman dropping her bag and her items scattering. She had claimed the Doctor had knocked it out of her hands before whacking him around the head with her walking stick. She ordered him to help her pick up her things, and rubbing his head moaning slightly he did, with a heavily blushing Rose and a roaring with laughter Craig. Thankfully, the journey soon ended and they got off, right in the middle of the town's busy high-street.

'Thank god that's over, I'm never getting a bus with you again; that was humiliating' she cried indignantly.

'It wasn't my fault!' the Doctor cried defensively.

'You knocked her bag out of her hands' she put her hands on her hips at this point.

'I didn't' he raised his hands in annoyance. They both scowled at each other, turning to Craig to see who he thought was right.

'You two can leave me out of this' he laughed, hands raised in a surrendering pose. Rose sighed slightly, giving up the argument, for now anyway.

'Well come on, here's one of the booths' she pointed it out a few feet away. It was a large box, like a photo booth you got in shop, pearly white in colour with the Percy logo on the sides and big flashing lights on the side. They went over to it and tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. Craig soon noticed a sort of slot near the keyhole.

'Looks like you need a winning ticket' he observed.

'Come on then' Rose grinned, pulling a card from her pocket.

'Where'd you get that?' Craig asked curiously.

'I got it from the corner shop, before Pye pulled a knife on me' she shrugged as she scratched the foil away, but the symbols didn't match, they hadn't won. They all sighed in disappointment.

'Well, whatever's going on with these games we're no closer to find it out here' the Doctor commented.

'Since when did you think something was going on?' Craig asked suspiciously.

'Since some of the puzzles in those games are way beyond Earth knowledge in this time frame' he replied.

'Right then, we might be no closer here, but Mickey has one of the games, let's go back to his' Rose suggested.

'But he won't let us back in until he's beat me, and I doubt he's managed that' the Doctor reminded her.

'Well there are certain advantages of being me, one is that I can kiss him into submission, however if you wanna try I won't stop you' she teased him.

'Isn't that what's Craig for?' he laughed.

'Yeah well, I'm not kissing him, it's you he's annoyed at not me, you'll have to kiss and make up' Craig countered with a smile.

'Yeah, maybe we should just let Rose handle it' the doctor shrugged and all three of them laughed once more.

'So, we're heading back?' Craig confirmed.

'We're heading back… by bus' the Doctor grinned and Rose groaned. There had better be something exciting happening today or she'd kill the Doctor for this repeat humiliation, and then she'd kill her brother for laughing so much about it. She had no idea that right now at that very moment, Mickey Smith was whimpering as he was held at gunpoint. She had no clue that this was becoming a race against time to save him. And she definitely had no indications that things might just get a little bit worse.

**...**

**And there is it! So first of all, poor Mickey! And yay Rose! You show that bully Pye : ) I was half tempted to have her kick him where it hurts and walk off, but I needed to keep the chapter moving ; ) Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed it, and Merry Christmas. I hope you all have a fantastic holiday and the next chapter will be up soon!**


	54. Winner Takes All, A Friend In Need

**Hey readers! Hope you all had a fantastic christmas and boxing day : ) So here's the next part of Winner Takes All, hope you enjoy. Please note that Doctor Who and Winner Takes All are not mine but Craig Tyler is : ) **

**...**

**Winner Takes All – A Friend in Need**

The three of them were soon back in the courtyard of the Powell Estate and working their way up the stairs to Mickey's flat. Thankfully the journey back had been less embarrassing and eventful than the first, which Rose still kept telling the Doctor off for, he kept protesting about, and Craig kept on laughing at the pair of them. The only stopped their talking when they reached Mickey's door, because something wasn't quite right.

'Look' Rose pointed at it. It was hanging ajar.

'Why's he left that open' Craig thought aloud.

'He's Ricky the Idiot, he probably doesn't even know' the Doctor chuckled, but the look Rose sent him sobered him up.

'No way, Mickey's too careful, there's a few guys around the estate which are a bit to light fingered so he's really careful about this type of stuff' she countered.

'Well, maybe he's gone out, he could have just left it ajar' Craig shrugged, but he had a bad feeling something a fair bit worse had happened to their friend. Mainly due to the scratches around the doorframe he was looking at.

'Look at these; they look like claw marks' he pointed at the deep gorges in the wood and concrete wall.

'Those could have been left by the Slitheen that time with Downing Street' the Doctor reasoned.

'Nah, I don't like this' Rose shook her head, an uneasy expression on her face.

'And they weren't there when we were here before' Craig added. The Doctor didn't reply. Instead he took out his sonic screwdriver, placed a finger to his lips to tell them to be silent as he slowly and quietly pushed the door open. He crept down the wall, Craig protectively in front of Rose following behind him. He moved from room to room, silently checking for signs of life, but there were none. Mickey was nowhere to be found. They returned to the room they had last seen him in, his bedroom where the controller had been dropped to the floor, the computer had been left on, but the game hadn't been restarted. It was like Mickey had left in a terrible hurry, or hadn't left of his own free will.

Rose knelt down and picked the controller up, squeezing it tightly in her hands before placing it on the desk, a fearful and confused expression on her face. She was clearly very concerned for Mickey. She knew things were practically over now, after all she couldn't settle back down into her normal life now, and she couldn't keep holding onto him either, it wasn't fair. But she would always love him, she'd always care. And the thought that something had happened to him terrified her.

'Something's not right here, Mickey wouldn't just leave like this' she softly commented, and noting her scared stance, Craig held her hand gently in reassurance, not that it was much good but Rose appreciated the gesture.

'Yeah you're right, there's this funny taste in the air' the Doctor replied thoughtfully, sticking his tongue and out sucking the air into his mouth. It was rather strange to watch, and a moment later his face scrunched up like he'd eaten a fizzy sweet.

'Blah, blah, it tastes like… some kind of teleportation residue' he frowned. Why in the universe would anybody wanna take Mickey the idiot of all people?!

'Teleport? So it's none human then, Mickey's been kidnapped hasn't he?' Craig asked softly. He too was worried about Mickey, he was a mate and a decent bloke and he treated Rose with respect and love and that was the type of guy he wanted his sister to be with. He was loyal but also a bit cowardly, and that was why Craig was afraid he'd get hurt if his fear got the better of him whilst he was with a bunch of aliens.

'But why would any alien wanna take Mickey, all he was doing was playing a game' Rose pointed out incuriously. After all, who gets kidnapped over a game?! It was ridiculous! The Doctor turned to her and frowned. It was clear a teeny tiny idea was beginning to form in his mind, and he went over to the controller and began to prise the back of it open. When he succeeded, a funny sort of liquid leaked out onto the table, silvery, like the chemicals of a battery but it smelt different, Craig had no real way of describing it, it just smelt and looked odd.

'It's alien, transmission fluid… transmitting messages… numbers' the Doctor rattle of aloud as he looked at it.

'The high scores!' Craig clapped a hand to his forehead as realisation hit him. It made sense now. But clearly not to the Doctor and Rose, for they were looking at him like he'd just lost his sanity. He sighed in exasperation.

'If this is aliens, though games are something alien, and why to people play video games? To win, to get the highest score. And Mickey said there was a prize for whoever won the game first' he explained.

'But Mickey didn't get the highest score' Rose reminded him.

'Yeah, but maybe the controller doesn't register who's actually playing it, so Mickey might had been kidnapped because of the Doctor's high score' he explained and their faces dawned with understanding.

'Craig Tyler, fantastic genius as always' the Doctor beamed at him. Craig had really learnt a lot about how to think things through since he'd met him, and he was so proud of that fact, the fact that for a change, everything was going right with his newest friends. Now he just had to get another one of them back and it would all be back to normal.

'So we know why, we still need to know where' Rose commented quietly.

'And who by' Craig added. The Doctor frowned, deep in thought, thinking of a plan. The best way to find Mickey would be to let themselves get captured, and the only way to do that was to play the game again. But he couldn't take them with him! it was too dangerous! He didn't what them to get hurt, and he was sure this would lead to exactly that. But there was no way either of them would back down now, not with Mickey out there somewhere. Maybe if the aliens who'd done this didn't know they were there… and then it hit him, he knew exactly what they had to do.

'Right, I've got a plan' he began.

'Hope it's a good one' Rose drily said.

'Actually it is. I'm gonna beat my own score. Whoever's got Mickey will come and try to get me, and I'm gonna let them' he grinned widely at their disbelieving faces.

'That is… the stupidest plan ever' Craig snapped at him. Letting himself get kidnapped could get him killed! He wanted to get Mickey back too, but that was never gonna work.

'He's right, you can't do that' Rose added worriedly.

'You haven't heard the whole thing yet! I'll be taking you two with me, only the alien's won't know it. You'll both have to hide behind the chair and hold onto my ankles. As soon as we teleport away, hide. You can look for Mickey, I can find out who took him and why, and we can use the teleport to get back' he finished grinning madly.

'That could easily go wrong every step of the way' Craig pointed out.

'That's never stopped us before. No it's the only plan we've got, I'm in' Rose spoke with such determination that Craig sighed. He didn't like it, but Rose was right, so he nodded to show he was in too.

'Right then, let the games begin' the doctor grinned widely as he took a seat in front of the computer, and began to play the game.

…

Rose and Craig anxiously watched over the Doctor's shoulder as he played the game. They both were scared and knew this plan was risky, but it was their best shot at getting Mickey back, they just hoped they'd all walk out unscathed. Rose was thinking about why aliens would want humans to play these games in the first place. It really didn't make much sense to her. maybe the best players proved themselves worthy in some way, or maybe this war game wasn't just a game, maybe it was real. The Doctor had said he recognised the name from somewhere. She was quick to voice her thoughts.

'You know, is it possible this isn't just a game. I mean, what if it's real, you said you knew the name Mantodeans' she reminded the Doctor.

'Of course! Quevvils!' he cried ecstatically, and both Rose and Craig sighed. What the hell did that mean?!

'Excuse me?' Craig asked in confusion

'Quevvils! The Percy the Porcupine logo, it isn't a promotional icon, it's a Quevvil . These creatures like giant man sized porcupines that can walk and talk! And the last I heard they were at war with the Mantodeans!' he exclaimed excitedly as he continued to play the game.

'So those praying mantises enemies, they're Mantodeans?' Craig asked.

'Yep, and by the looks of things they're winning, so the Quevvils must be using humans to try and get an advantage somehow' he nodded as he solved another puzzle.

'Yeah but Doctor, the enemies in the game are real then! You need to stop killing them!' Rose cried in alarm.

'Right, yep sorry' he said as he dodged a Mantodean instead of blowing it up with his characters gun. Suddenly, a flashing icon appeared on the screen.

'High score' a computerized voice cried, and the Doctor grinned whilst Rose and Craig looked apprehensively excited.

'Right, on the floor now' the Doctor ordered, and they both dropped to the ground, grabbed onto one of his ankles each, hidden beneath the computer desk, squashed together and cramped in the small space. They were hidden from sight completely, but they could hear everything that was going on in the flat. Suddenly the front door burst open, and briskly marching into the room came several very strange creatures.

They were roughly six feet in height, black skinned with white streaks running down their downs. Curling around them like Armor with many deadly looking quill spikes, and judging by the purple liquid on the ends of some of them, they were poisonous. They were all holding guns the length of their arms, big black and grey metal things, and they were all trained on the Doctor.

'Surrender!' one of them shrieked in a high pitched, unearthly voice close to a snarl when the Doctor only grinned at them, and they all clicked the safeties off their guns. The Doctor slowly and calmly raised his hands level with his shoulders in a surrendering position. Satisfied, the leading Quevvil pressed a sort of blue remote control button, and with a haze of lemon yellow light, they all vanished, leaving an empty flat behind them.

…

Rose felt dizzy, sick even, as she tried to remember what had happened. Mickey had been taken, that part was terrible clear, and the Doctor had come up with some kind of plan, one she wasn't happy with. But she couldn't remember what it was, or even where she was! Her heart nearly stopped beating when a pair of hands lifted her to her feet, one clamped over her mouth. She tried to scream and kick, but she could hardly move, before she sighed in relief when a familiar voice spoke into his ear.

'Sssh! Hide' Craig's voice whispered, dragging her slightly to the left, into some long eerie shadows which hid them perfectly since it was so dark. She breathed in softly as he took his hand off her mouth. She shook her head to clear it. They weren't in Mickey's flat anymore, they were in some kind of darkened corridor, a door a short distance away from them on the left. They was pressed up against the darkened wall, the Doctor and five Quevvils in front of them. Luckily, none of them had noticed the two humans, and they all grabbed a hold of the struggling Doctor.

'Get him in here' one of them cried, roughly pushing the protesting Doctor towards the door. They ripped it open and pushed the Doctor into another room and out of sight, but their heat beats quickened when they heard a cry of surprise from Mickey. Craig grabbed onto Rose's arm to stop her for charging in there, keeping her hidden. The Quevvils all went into the room and closed the door, leaving the two Tylers alone in the corridor.

'Thank god he's alright' were Rose's first relieved words.

'Yeah, not yet he's not though' Craig whispered. He slowly looked up and down the corridor, and satisfied it was empty, he began to crept towards the door. He gently pressed his ear to it, but it was too thick, he couldn't hear anything.

'Craig, look over there' Rose whispered to him, and looking in the direction she was pointing in, he saw a thick black ladder at the end of the corridor, leading right up to the ceiling. He frowned in confusion, he couldn't see anything up there. They quickly but quietly rushed over to it, and Craig began to climb. When he reached to top he saw the faint outline of a square hole, wide enough to fit through, blocked by a wooden trapdoor.

'There's a door up here, but I can't open it' he whispered down to Rose as he tried to push it up, but no matter how hard he tried, it simply wouldn't budge.

'Let's try the other end then' she hissed back in reply, and he quietly climbed back down. They rushed back along the corridor, tip-toeing past the door, and up to the other end. This end was much more useful to them, as a large rusty door stood ajar.

'Sssh' Craig whispered with his finger on his lip, walking protectively in front of Rose as they crept inside. The room was dark and small, the air musty. It was clearly some kind of storeroom, and newspaper articles and magazine covers all littered the floor. Craig knelt down an picked one on. It was dated roughly around the time the spaceship had hit Big Ben, a few months ago. He frowned in thought.

'I think we're still in London, but underground or something' he whispered to her as he dropped the paper back to the floor.

'Right, well that's some good news anyway, but we've no time for sight seeing so let's go' she said determinedly. And determined she was, she wanted to save the Doctor and Mickey and by god nobody had better stand in her way!

'And where would we be going too?' he asked with a frown. He couldn't see a way out in the darkness surrounding them.

'Stairs, over there' she pointed and squinting, Craig saw that she was right.

'Right little cat eyes aren't you' he commented as they went over to them and began going up them.

'Cheers' she smiled smugly as they came to another door. Silently, they both pushed it open, and their jaws dropped. They were inside the newsagents in the Powell Estate courtyard, of all the places!

'What the hell?' Rose cried in disbelieve.

'Never mind that now, let's get out of here before someone sees us' Craig said urgently. After all, they were behind the counter and if someone saw them in no time at all they'd both be arrested. Luckily it seemed the shop owner had gone into the back room for a cup of tea judging by the sound of the whistling kettle, and tip-toping once more, they hurried out of the shop.

…

The Doctor had been bound and gagged and was now sitting in a small storeroom like area, a whimpering Mickey right next to him. The constant noise the man was making was really beginning to get on his nerves, but he supposed that it was Mickey's first time being kidnapped and held prisoner, so he shouldn't tell him off. He just hoped that Rose and Craig had managed to get away in time. He had place Mickey's game controller in his bigger on the inside pockets just before the teleport, but with the position he had placed in it was digging into his side, and quite frankly it hurt a lot.

He sighed. He couldn't reach his sonic screwdriver and the ties were too strong to break, so until either the Quevvils released him or Rose or Craig came along, he's be stuck listening to the whimpering until something happened. What that was going to be, he had no clue, but he had a feeling it wasn't going to be good.

…

'Right, I think the answer to getting Mickey and the Doctor out of there is to find out exactly what happens inside those booths' Craig told Rose and they were running towards the bus stop, heading back into town.

'But you need a winning ticket' she reminded him just as the bus into town pulled into the stop.

'Then we need to keep buying things until we get a winner' he shrugged as they paid and took their seats, fidgeting slightly as the bus took them into town, too slowly for their liking, but eventually they were back in front of the booth, and it remained as stubbornly locked as before.

'Right, we need a plan' Rose sighed as she gave up trying to force the door open.

'Ok, let's think logically, the Quevvils are porcupines, you know anything about porcupines?' Craig asked her.

'Just… that they like salt, learnt that from a school trip to the zoo' she grinned at him.

'Salt, Salt, Salt… Hey Rose, fancy some chips?' his eyes lit up as they fell on the Fish and Chip shop just across the road. They grinned at each other, and a moment later they were running over to it, gently pushing the door open and stepping inside. The inside was small and the floor was slightly wet, like it had just been mopped. The blue topped counter had bottles of vinegar and salt shakers. An elderly lady with her grey hair in a hair net and wearing glasses smiled at them from behind the counter.

'What can I get you my loves?' she asked in a slightly dotty voice. She seemed a bit dim, perfect for the Tylers!

'Oh, just a large portion of chips please' Craig smiled at her as he brought out his wallet. When she turned her back to them, shovelling chips from a vat into a small polystyrene box, Rose grabbed one of the large salt shakes and hid it up the back of her jumper.

'That'll be two pound then please' she smiled as Craig gave her the correct coins, and carefully making sure she couldn't see the lump in Rose's back, the two Tylers left the store, pleased with how easy that had been.

'Yum, got us some salt, and gorgeous chips' Craig smiled happily as he munched on some of them.

'Yeah, give us some' she grinned cheekily, as she nicked some of them.

'Right, so what next?' Craig asked a few minutes later, once they had quickly finished their chips.

'We still need tickets, Mum said you can get them anytime you buy something right?' she asked.

'Yep, anything she said' he nodded.

'Right then, wait here' she ordered him, and looking at her curiously, Craig watched as she entered a sweet shop, where she filled up a bag with different sweets before paying. The man at the corner handed her a stack of tickets before she walked out.

'Right, one hundred tickets for one hundred penny sweets, so let's hope we got a winner, whilst we've been eating chips the Doctor and Mickey are counting on us' Rose reminded her brother.

'Right, give me half and let's get scratching' Craig nodded as they sat on a bench. They scratched and scratched and scratched until finally, on the 58th ticket they tried was a winner. They both jumped up and down in joy, before running over to the booth. Rose eagerly put the ticket into the slot, and with a hiss of air, the door creaked open. They both squashed themselves inside. The inside was blindingly white washed and a counter stood, and behind the counter was a Quevvil, but to the normal person you'd see him as a guy in a porcupine suit.

'Congratulations on your victory, please wait patiently whilst I go and ger your prize' he smiled, backing through a doorway behind him into a store room no doubt. They waited a few seconds to make sure he was gone when Craig hopped over the counter.

'The salt shaker' he whispered and Rose hastily passed it to him. he unscrewed the top and poured every last grain of salt onto the floor, right on top of a trapdoor, which no doubt was connected to the corridor they had been underground in before. Craig hastily jumped back over as he heard the Quevvil starting to come back.

When said Quevvil returned behind the counter, he sniffed the air and his face seemed to brighten slightly before he shook it, no doubt to remind himself of the task at hand.

'Here's your prize, I hope you enjoy it' he smiled as he handed Rose a game controller exactly like Mickey's and a disk inside a case.

'Thanks a lot' Rose falsely smiled sweetly at him before they backed out of the booth and hastily closed the door.

'Result! Having this is bound to help the Doctor' she cried triumphantly holding up the controller.

'Right, back to the newsagents' Craig told her, and soon the two were back at the bus stop. They were getting sick of using the bus system, but since Craig's car had been taken as evidence when his disappearance had been investigated, he hadn't bothered to retrieve it since he had no need for it anymore, but now he wished he had. But soon enough they were back in the courtyard, sneaking into the newsagent and into the corridor underneath. Craig squinted and his eyes widened as he saw several Quevvils leave the room the Doctor had been shoved into when they had last seen their friend. He and Rose watched as they climbed up the ladder and unlocked the trapdoor, and when it swung shut behind them he heard them lock it and move away.

'Sssh' he whispered to Rose as they began to creep towards the room. He gently pushed the door open, relieved to find that it was empty of Quevvils, and even more relieved to see the Doctor and Mickey safe, albeit it bound and gagged. They eyes widened in relieve at the sight of the two blondes, who were hurrying over to them. Craig ripped his way through the knot of the rope binding the Doctor whilst Rose did the same to Mickey's, and soon both men were free.

'Oh, thanks' the Doctor grinned as he wrapped Craig in a hug, Mickey and Rose doing the same.

'Sssh, it's ok now' Rose hushed a whimper Mickey as she held him tight. She was so relieved to see him in one piece her heart was nearly swelling up with joy.

'Well come on then, we can't just stand here' Craig cried before Mickey could get all emotional. He did have sympathy for his friend, he really did, but now just wasn't the time. He made to go out of the door.

'Hold on, I need a look at Mickey's controller' the Doctor stopped him, bringing said controller out of his pocket.

'Here, you can look at this one too' Rose told him as he held out her own controller.

'Where'd you get this' he asked her curiously.

'We won it' she shrugged.

'Right, Mickey, stand here' he told him, grabbing his shoulders and steering him into the position he needed him in. He put the controller in his hands before turning to Rose.

'Right, now move towards him' he instructed her, and with a confused look as began walking towards Mickey, the second controller in her hands. As she stepped forward it began to vibrate, she held on tight and kept going forwards, but soon it hurt to keep holding on, it was shaking too much!

'Right, let me look at it' the Doctor said, pointing his sonic screwdriver at Rose's controller, adjusting the parameters of it slightly before he stopped sonicing it.

'Try again' he ordered. This time as they came closer together it didn't vibrate, but something happened. A sort of spark fell between the controllers, and suddenly from outside the room came the noise of stomping footsteps. They all tensed up, fearing the Quevvils were returning, but as the seconds dragged by they noticed the footsteps had past the door, so the Doctor, Rose, and Craig all silently peered out, Mickey trying, and failing to see over their shoulders.

'What is it' he whispered since he couldn't see. They three of them squinted, it was so hard to see. They looked human in shape and size, but there was something around their foreheads and necks. The thing on the foreheads were sort of disks, whilst the things strapped around the necks were silvery metal cubes.

'They're people?' Craig wondered aloud.

'I think they're being controlled' the Doctor whispered as they watched them march up the corridor.

'Wait, so they're the characters in the games' Rose guessed.

'Yep, and it's not just game over when the next player loses, it really is the loss of a life' he realized with rage in his voice. How dare the Quevvils try something like this, it was cruel and twisted!

'Can't we just take the disks off' Craig suggested as a young woman passed the door, with curled brown hair and blue eyes, which currently looked slightly dull, like she wasn't the one in control, but then again she wasn't. His eyes widened as he recognized her. Her name was Mrs. Hall, and she lived on the floor below their in the Powell Estate flats. And this morning whilst they had help their mum pack her shopping away, she'd mentioned in passing she'd won a holiday… some travel agent she must have had!

'We can't, it could cause a brain storm' the Doctor shook his head. If that happened, all the humans with disks would surely die; he didn't want that to happen if it could be avoided.

Craig was about to reply when they sound of feet slapping against the metal rungs of the ladder could be heard. The Quevvils were coming back!

'We need a way out!' Rose cried fearfully. The Doctor practically span on the spot, looking for something they could use. His eyes fell on a desk on the other side of the room. The entire area was a mess with bits of paper and boxes scattered around, but on the desk there was the perfect way out. He grinned as he raced other to it.

'Stand there' he ordered the three of them, and nodded, they stood shoulder to shoulder as he turned and faced them. He picked up a small blue control, the teleportation device and held it ready.

'Right, this is the teleport; it'll take you back to Mickey's flat, once you're there I need you to collect up those games, we have to get them all back, before anybody else gets hurt, before they end up dead' he told them sincerely.

'But what about you, you have to come with us' Rose argued.

'I'll be right behind you' he assured them. It was a lie and he knew it, he'd make them know how sorry he was later but he really needed to stay here and figure the rest of this madness out.

'You'd better be' Craig stated firmly. The Doctor nodded and he was about to fire it at them when the door burst open and they were discovered.

'NOW' he cried, pressing the button. It a cloud of lemon yellow smoke, Craig, Rose and Mickey all vanished, just as one of the Quevvils shot. The Doctor heard Mickey cry out in pain as the blast struck him, but he saw just as they faded away that he only had a small wound. He knew he really shouldn't, but he was so glad that Rose and Craig hadn't been the ones to get hit. He smiled, at least they had gotten out unharmed, but it changed to a frown as the Quevvils charged at him. He gathered up one of the boxes and threw it at them, they all dodged and in their distraction he pushed through them, and ran. That all he could do right now, run, hide, and pray Rose and Craig would get those games back and stop the unnecessary human deaths. And that was what they were, completely unnecessary, and for that, he'd stop the Quevvils if it was the last thing he ever did.

…

'GREAT!' Craig cried in fury. The Quevvils must have seen the Doctor and who knew what they had done to him. he knew the Doctor could take care of himself, and them too, but he didn't care. He wanted his friend back by his side and he knew it would be a while until that happened now.

'Craig! Help me!' Rose cried and turning on the spot, he gasped as she saw her on her knees, her hands covered in blood as she desperately clung onto Mickey, covering a wound to his stomach, whilst he groaned in agony.

'Right, let me see' he told her, kneeling down and looking at the wound. It didn't look very deep.

'Right, we need to make him more comfortable, clean it, then bandage him up' he told her, and with a nod she helped move him to his bed where they laid him on top. She then dashed into the kitchen and boiled some water, rummaging through the cupboards until she found some bandages, and within minutes she was back by his side whilst Craig started to clean him up.

I don't think they'll be any permanent damage, he'll just need to take it easy for a few days' he reassured her as he finished bandaging him up.

'But what do we do now?' she asked, her attention now shifting back to the Doctor and the situation at hand.

'Now, we do what the Doctor told us, we need to get those games back' Craig stood up determinedly. And he was determined, determined to rescue the Doctor, determined to ensure nobody else innocent got hurt, and most of all, determined to stop whatever the Quevvils were planning. Rose nodded, and together they left the flat, ready to do whatever it took to help their friends, and their planet.

**...**

**And that's part 2 of Winner Takes All. : ) So not much to say really, other then that I hope you enjoyed and please please review since I really appreciate all of them and they really brighten up my days ; ) Keep on Reading : )**


	55. Winner Takes All, Not So Jolly Holidays

**Hello! I'm soooooooooo sorry that I've kept you all waiting for so long! But everything in my life has become a total and utter mess at the minute! Anyway, back now, and ready to roll : ) Hopefully this was worth the wait. Unfortunately in my absence I still don't own Doctor Who or The Winner Takes All, but on the bright side, Craig Tyler is still mine : ) Read on and enjoy!**

**...**

**Winner Takes All – Not So Jolly Holidays**

The doctor was sprinting down the darkened corridor was fast as he possible could, the sound of the Quevvils' feet slapping against the floor as they gave pursuit. He was putting a bit of distance between them, but if he slowed down even for a second they'd easily catch him up. He rounded a corner and ducked into an open doorway and quickly but quietly closed it to match the other doors in the hallway. As quietly as he could, he pressed his ear up against it.

'We've lost him sir' he heard one of them say in a squeaky voice.

'I can see that you fool, find him!' the one who had been addressed as sir yelled back.

'But sir, what about the other three, the three he teleported?' another voice asked.

'Hmm, good point, get after them!' he ordered. No! They would NOT go after his Craig and his Rose; he would NOT all any more harm to come to HIS humans. And with that raging thought burning through his mind, he leapt out of the small cupboard he was in, facing six Quevvils.

'OI! YOU LEAVE THEM ALONE!' he raged, and before any of the porcupine creatures could react, the Doctor had brought up his sonic screwdriver, aiming it at the teleport one of them was holding. It fizzled and sparked before it exploded, completely out of commission now.

'NO!' the authoritive Quevvil cried, before a look of fury overtook his face.

'SEIZE HIM!' he cried, pointing at the Doctor. He began to run, but two of the Quevvils grabbed onto his elbows, and effortlessly lifted him a little off the ground. It didn't matter how much he squirmed and kicked out, he couldn't break free as they silently carried him back to the room he had been held in. They dumped him back in his chair, none too gently, and placed a controller in front of him.

'PLAY!' one of them ordered him.

'Now, I'm a bit bored of playing this game you see, and I'm wondering if it really is a game or not the people of this planet have being playing' the Doctor replied with one of his grins, giving no indication he had heard the order he had been given. He had, but naturally he wasn't going to give in, instead he would keep them talking, he was good at that, and he needed to buy as much time for Rose and Craig to get back the controllers before anyone else got hurt. He just hoped they were been successful.

…

'Where do we look first though, we have no idea who might have one of these controllers' Rose cried in frustration. They had just left Mickey's flat and made sure it was locked and sure in case he had some unwanted visitors whilst they were gone and they were currently on their way down to the courtyard.

'Maybe we should ask mum?' Craig suggested after a few moments of silent thought.

'Why, what would she know?' Rose asked in confusion.

'Well, she's the one who put us onto this, and that woman in the Quevvils unground corridors, Mrs Hall, Mum mentioned that she had won a holiday, so maybe Mum knows of some other winner who in turn might know some more. It's worth a shot' he explained as they proceeded up the stairs of their block.

'Well it sounds like a plan, let's just hope your right' Rose sighed as they reached their floor and the door to their flat. She took out her key, and unlocked the door and led the way in.

'Mum?' Craig called, but there was no reply. Shrugging at her brother, Rose went into the living room, and was about to sit down in the armchair when she noticed a note on the sofa. She quickly gathered it up and began to read it allow to Craig.

_'Dear Rose and Craig,_

_ You'll never believe it but I've won a holiday! Woohoo! Only two tickets through and since you two always spend your time travelling the universe I thought you wouldn't begrudge me this, I hope so anyway! So me and Dilys are going, I'll get you both a present and hopefully see you in a few days, Ta Ra!_

_All my love always sweethearts, Mum._

'She's won a holiday?' Craig asked in surprize. Now that gave him a bit of cause for concern, since the same had happened to Mrs Hall and she had turned up with a disc on her head being controlled by an alien porcupine. So not good!

'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' he quietly asked Rose.

'We need to find her before the Quevvils do' she nodded, and the two of them rushed back out of the flat, locking it up and heading for the stairs once more.

'But how, if the Quevvils already have her, how can we find her, before she's taken away' Craig wondered aloud as they hurried down the stairs.

'Think, think, think, think, think… The booths! There'll be a Quevvil there and we can ask him some questions, it might get him to slip up' she grinned as the idea came to her.

'Or it could kill us' Craig pointed out the danger in the plan.

'And if we don't, we might not ever find mum' Rose said sternly. After all, that wasn't a price they could afford, not now, not ever!

Craig sighed, but nodded, and together they raced to the bus stop.

…

'Come on, come on' Rose muttered loudly, attracting several strange looks from various passengers that were on the bus she and Craig were riding.

'Sssh, you're attracting a lot of attention' he whispered to her. he was of course just as worried about Jackie, but he had total faith in the Doctor and that he'd find their mother, even if he didn't particularly like her, and if he didn't Craig's slap would soon set him straight. The blonde man in was sitting with the remainder of Rose's tickets in his hands, scratching away at them looking for a winner they could use to get into the booth. He'd already found one, but he wanted another in case they needed to get back in later. His eyes lit up as one of the last tickets turned out to be another winner, so with two winning tickets in his pocket, Rose and Craig got off the bus and headed straight for the booth.

Craig quickly used one of the tickets to get inside, and Rose opened the door as they stepped inside. As they hoped, one of the Quevvils was standing there, a smile on his face. Now that Rose knew what they were doing, she wanted to slap it right off his face! But she wouldn't… not know at least.

'Congratulations on your victory, please wait patiently whilst I go and ger your prize' he smiled again, heading into the store room behind and bringing out another controller and handing it over to Rose, who smiled slightly stiffly at the Quevvil as she thanked it.

'Thanks, but that's not actually why we're here. You see our mother won a holiday on one of the tickets, and we were wondering what the destination was' Craig explained, a stiff smile lining his own face.

'Sorry, but consumer confidentiality' the Quevvils smiled back, almost tauntingly, as he shook his head.

'Don't give us that, she's our mother!' Rose snapped.

'Sorry, now you've got your prize, I'd appreciate it if you both took your leave' the Quevvils said firmly, starting to sound annoyed.

'Yeah, well you can keep your prize' Rose shot back, and before either Craig or the Quevvil could react, she threw the controller, aiming for his head, but missed and it shot through the open door and judging by the crash, knocked a load of things over.

'NO!' the Quevvil cried as Craig grabbed his sister's hand, and at a run they fled the booth.

…

The Doctor had managed to stall for more time, with the Quevvils getting more and more frustrated with his continuous babbling, when a loud crash could be heard overhead. And whilst the Quevvils all stared at the ceiling in wonder, the Doctor took his chance and ran, hearing them yell as they gave chase.

He bolted to the end of the corridor and charged up a ladder, nearly banging his head on the closed trapdoor. But even that wasn't enough to slow him, as he brought out his sonic screwdriver, and moments later he was climbing through.

He had just pulled his legs up in time, and when he looked back down he saw one of the Quevvils starting on the ladder, but using the sonic again, he sealed it back up. Sighing slightly in relieve, the Doctor looked around. He seemed to be in a news agents, and through the window he let out another breath of relieve to see the Powell Estate courtyard, and without a second glance at the trapdoor, he hurriedly left the shop.

He had only one destination in mind, one that he truly didn't want to go to but had to if he was going to find Rose and Craig. He was heading to Jackie Tyler's flat. He just prayer he wasn't walking into a slap.

…

'Did you really have to do that?' Craig laughed as he and Rose ran through the street hand in hand.

'He was getting on my nerves' she giggled as she looked over her shoulder. They slowed down slightly as the Quevvil hadn't followed them.

'If I did something like that every time someone annoyed me I'd be in prison by now though' Craig teased.

'Oh shut up' Rose chuckled.

'Yoo-hoo!' a voice called over to them, and turning, they saw a woman in her early forties with curly red hair and bright brown eyes. She was wearing a long cream colour coat and black trousers. They both instantly recognised her; it was their mother's friend Dilys. They both went over to greet her.

'Hey Dilys' Rose smiled at her.

'Hello you two' she greeted them.

'Shouldn't you be packing?' Craig asked her with a grin. Her face fell slightly.

'You haven't heard?' she asked sadly.

'Heard what?' Rose asked curiously.

'We've had to cancel the holiday cause of your mum' she explained.

'Why, what's happened to mum?' Craig asked panic stricken.

'She in hospital' she said softly.

'Why, what happen?' an alarmed Rose asked.

'Darren Pye happened, he beat her up' Dilys spat the name and both Rose and Craig groaned. They should have known their run-in with the local bully would have repercussion for their mother; she still had to live in the area after all.

'I'll kill him' Craig growled.

'Yeah, and Jackie was so excited about that holiday she won. Oh well. I know, why don't you have this, one of you could go with her when she's better' she suddenly smiled, pulling a ticket out of her pocket and handing it to Rose.

'Thanks' she said absentmindedly, her thoughts to preoccupied with their mother to think of anything else.

'Well, I've gotta go loves, but I'd keep away from Pye if I were you' Dilys sighed as she walked away.

'Oh, and tell your mother if you're going to see her I'll pop by to see how she's doing later' she added over her shoulder, and a moment later their mother's friend was gone.

…

The Doctor had used the sonic to get into the flat and had nervously popped his head into the living room. He sighed in relief as he found it empty of the Tyler mother, but sadly it lacked the presence of Rose and Craig too. He sighed, walked out of the flat and locked it again behind him, before he made his way over to Mickey's flat.

Knocking on the door, the Doctor heard grunting from the other side before it opened to reveal a wounded Mickey, but he had been bandaged up, so him assumed it was only a minor injury. He began to explain before Mickey could even open his mouth.

'Right, we need to get those games off the street and stop the Quevvils, so I need you to go around and start spreading rumours, tell people that they're dangerous and get them back, you got that Rickey?' he asked, and not even waiting for an answer, he briskly walked away, leaving Mickey standing there, looking a little stunned and overwhelmed. He was heading straight for Rose and Craig's flat and was going to wait for them there. He had only been waiting for a few minutes, when the door opened, revealing both his best friends.

'Doctor?!' Rose cried at happily, before she ran over to his and wrapped in a big hug.

'Oh, that was worth escaping for' the Doctor beamed as Rose laughed and let him go, before Craig had him in a hug too.

'Oh I'm always worth escaping for, believe me' Craig whispered seductively teasingly in his ear. The Doctor just laughed as they broke apart.

'How'd you get away?' Rose asked curiously.

'I heard a crash upstairs and legged it in the confusion' the Doctor grinned.

'HA! I knew it was a good thing I knocked those games over' Rose pointed a triumphant finger at her brother.

'Yeah, yeah, whatever' Craig grinned back.

'So what now?' Rose turned the conversation back to seriousness.

'We need to get those games of the streets before anyone else gets hurt' the Doctor said in all seriousness. And together, the three friends left the flat, ready to save London from aliens once again.

…

The three of them had headed down to the courtyard, and had even told people that the games were emitting a signal which could damage their health and that they needed to be called back to the manufactures, but it was no good. Nobody seemed willing to part with their console, but a little thing the Doctor had picked up on was that all the people who had had one seemed scared.

He sighed as Rose knocked on another door. If he got on more bit of abuse he'd hit whoever it was, and then he'd give up and go back to the Tardis and have a cuppa. A little boy opened the door and peered up at them curiously.

'Hello sweetheart, we're doing some enquires in the area' Rose began as she knelt down to the young boy's level.

'There are these dangerous games out there and we need to get them all back, they being away out by men dressed like Porcupines' she explained and the boy's eyes widened.

'I said not to tell!' he cried fearfully, and immediately the Doctor took over the conversation, gently but firmly.

'Who did, who told you not to tell' he asked urgently.

'That man, the bully man. He took my game and told me that he'd hurt me if I didn't let him have it' he choked out tearfully.

'Sssh, it's alright sweetheart, what did he look like?' Rose asked as she placed a comforting arm on his shoulder.

'He was tall with red hair, looks mean. Everyone knows him…' the boy shrugged, before he seemed to have had enough and shut the door on them. The three of them sighed, they all recognised that description.

'Darren Pye! Again! Does he have nothing better to do?!' Craig cried in annoyance.

'Apparently not. You think he knows what's going on?' Rose asked the Doctor as they walked across the courtyard, heading in the direction of Mickey's.

'Maybe, or he could just be trying to sell them on or something, his human, he'd know better than me' the Doctor shrugged as they walked up the stairs.

'Well either way, we need a new plan' Craig said softly as they knocked on Mickey's door, and a moment later he opened it and greeted them with any more bad news.

'We have a problem' he said solemnly as he led them into the flat, right to his computer.

'Look at this' he said, pointing at the screen. The Doctor, Rose and Craig all looked over his shoulder at the screen; which was display a pop-up advert, and what it was advertising was one of the game controllers! But not only that, right at the bottom of the advert was a sub-advertisement, offering holiday tickets for sale from the same company. Shit! Now people could just buy them and not have to bother winning them!

'Perfect!' the Doctor sighed sarcastically.

'We have to stop this!' Craig cried.

'How?' Rose was the one to ask.

'I think the answer is to go to wherever the Quevvils are taking the people too' the Doctor thought aloud.

'How though, we have no idea where they're going' Craig pointed out.

'If we win a ticket we can follow them in the Tardis, see what planet their going too. Come on, we're going shopping' the Doctor said determinedly as he began to stride out of the room.

'No need, Dilys gave me this' Rose stopped him, bringing the holiday ticket out of her pocket. The Doctor took it off her and looked at it in surprize, before he turned to look back at this blonde haired friends, beaming away at them.

'Fantastic' he grinned, taking their hands and running out of the flat, heading straight for the Tardis.

…

'Right, so we can use the Tardis to follow them?' Craig asked as he, Rose and the Doctor rushed into the Tardis control room. They had practically fled Mickey's block and sprinted across the courtyard to the phone box.

'Yep, all I needed was one of the destination tickets, and this slot' the Doctor grinned as he pointed at a sort of card reader slot on the console. He hurriedly swiped the ticket into it, and the Tardis engines started up.

'It's working!' the Doctor grinned, but apparently it was a moment too soon, and the entire room suddenly jerked to one side and they were all thrown across the room. It wasn't unusual for the ride to be bumpy, but that was way beyond the normal rate. They all clung on tight as the Tardis flipped over again, spinning and spinning. They all let out a scared yell as the Tardis plummeted, before the rollercoaster of a ride clanged to a stop, and they all were thrown to the ground again.

'What the hell just happened?!' a distressed Craig asked as he picked himself and helped a slightly whimpering Rose to her feet, checking her over for injuries but glad to find none, before he pulled her into a hug.

'I don't know, it's like the Tardis was repelled by something' the Doctor frowned, clearly lost in thought.

'So where are we now?' Rose wanted to know.

'I'm guessing, and hoping, wherever the holiday winners were taken' the Doctor said quietly as he went to the door. He waited until Rose and Craig had joined him before he pushed it open.

They silently stepped out, only to have to squint through darkness. The Doctor quickly brought out his sonic screwdriver and lit up the end to give them some light. They were in a small grey room, dusty and moulding dripping down the walls, it was filthy! But what was alarming that all standing at the attention pose, totally unmoving were ten adults, and two younger children, a boy and a girl. All of them had metal discs attached to them.

'We need to get them out' the Doctor said softly.

'How?' Rose whispered in reply.

'We can use the controller to get them all out' Craig suggested, and with a nod Rose gave hers to the Doctor, who was about to activate it as they moved to the sides of the Tardis so they could get the people inside, when a door crashed open and the lights came on, and four Quevvils came in.

'Oh, fantastic' Craig sighed sarcastically.

'They are unprogrammed!' one of the Quevvils squeaked.

'Grab them!' another ordered, and before anyone could move, the Doctor, Rose and Craig were each being restrained by a Quevvil each.

'He's the clever one' the leading Quevvil commented as he looked at the Doctor's glaring face.

'Don't tell him that, his ego's big enough already' Craig sighed.

'Keep him here, he'll be useful to have playing the game, as for these two, take them to be processed' he ordered the ones holding Rose and Craig.

'Yes sir' they said together as they pushed a protesting Rose and Craig forwards.

'No, wait. The female, keep her here, just so we can definitely keep this one in line' the leader changed his mind, and with a nod, the Quevvil kept his grip on Rose and stood firm, whilst the yelling and kicking Craig was dragged forwards. The Doctor struggled and managed to break free and lunged forwards, wrapping his arms around his frightened male companion.

'I'll get you back, like I always do' he whispered in Craig ear, whilst he discreetly slipped the sonic into Craig's back pocket. As the Quevvil grabbed him and pulled him back, he winked at Craig who gave the tiniest of nods, and moments later the blonde man was dragged from the room, and out of sight.

'CRAIG!' Rose yelled after him. He was her big brother! She didn't want him to be forced to fight in someone else's war! She vowed there and then that she'd stop the Quevvils and rip them to shreds if anything happened to him.

…

'You know, if anything happens to me, I wouldn't like to be you once the Doctor gets his hands on you' Craig drily commented to his captors. He had been dragged through a dark corridor and into another room, similar to the manky room he had been in with the Doctor and Rose. Only in this one a chair bolted to the floor stood in the centre. He was pushed into it and metal clamped fixed over his arms, holding him down.

'Hush now. In a moment you'll be a warrior worthy of the Quevvils, and you'll die an honourable death' one of the Quevvils hissed at him. He gulped slightly as from a contraption attached to the back of the chair activated, and a disc on the end of it, the same ones on the victims' foreheads, drew closer and closer. He yelped in pain as he felt something prickle at his neck, before whatever it was sparked and fused to him, burning to wound around it slightly. He hissed in pain, before it turned to a yell as the disc was crushed into his head.

His eyes widened in shock, he had been trying to squirm and move his head back, but he couldn't. He tried to open his mouth, twitch his fingers, but he couldn't. He had no control over his body! It was like he had become a passenger in his own body, and someone else was the driver.

'He is ready' one of the Quevvils confirmed.

'Then ready the teleport' another ordered, and a total frozen Craig vanished in a haze of lemon yellow smoke, teleported away, where to, a paralysed Craig had no clue. He just prayed that the Doctor would get him back soon, and that he wouldn't be used to kill anyone.

…

'Right, I'm only going to say this once so listen up' the Doctor spat venomously, and giving to tone of his voice it wasn't too surprizing all the Quevvils in the room looked at him. Rose looked at him, slightly fearful of the tone he had used. The Dark Doctor was coming out, just like he had with the Dalek in the vault, and she hated seeing it.

'I was planning on just rescuing everyone and, you know, maybe destroying your technology so you wouldn't do it again. If he gets hurt though, this planet's dust. Just thought I'd mention it.' He hissed at them. The Quevvil did look slightly uneasy, before they quickly regained their nerve, and pushed the Doctor and Rose towards the door.

'Take him too' the leader Quevvil ordered, and the young boy, who had reddish hair and freckle and was wearing a red jumper and blue trousers, had a controller pointed at him. The Quevvil started making him walk, his eyes were blank and his face expressionless, it was obvious he was being controlled. The three of them were walked along a dark corridor and into another dark and dingy room. The only new thing in there that seemed to have being cleaned recently was a screen hanging on the far wall. A metal chair was bolted to the floor in front of it.

'Sit' the Quevvil holding the Doctor hissed, forcing him into the chair. A controller was soon thrust into his hands, which he looked at in confusion.

'You… are going to play the game' the Quevvil spat.

'And if I don't?' the Doctor challenged in a hard voice.

'Then the beautiful woman and the innocent boy will both be killed' the Quevvil grinned maliciously, whilst the two other Quevvils brought out their guns. One was pointed up to Rose's head, the other, held at the boy's. The Doctor sighed. He had no choice but to play now. He couldn't and wouldn't put an innocent boy's life at stake, and there was no way he was going to risk Rose. After all, she was rapidly becoming the woman he loved.

**...**

**And that's part 3! So, as always, thoughts and ideas are always greatly appreciated, and I hope you're keeping an eye on my other story, which is an extension on this story! Anyway, thanks for reading and again, sorry for the long wait : ) Hopefully I'll be quicker with the next one : )**


	56. Winner Takes All, A War Game Won

**And here's the final part of Winner Takes All, hooray! Kind of excited that this one's done, and I'll explain why in the bottom note. All I've got to say now is enjoy! And please remember that Craig Tyler is mine, but Doctor Who and the Winner Takes All book is not. Read on at your own risk, because in this game the winner really does take all...**

**...**

**Winner Takes All – A War Game Won**

Craig found himself lying on a grey and black floor. He tried to shake his head to clear it, but he couldn't move it. All he could do was blink. He would have gasped in surprize if he could when his arm moved, completely without his control. His hand twisted into the sign of a thumbs-up, and he stared at it. With another attempted gasp, Craig realised that it had to have been the Doctor.

His legs began to move forwards, leading him into the maze. Craig, still being the passenger, sighed inside his mind, he had total faith in the Doctor, but he didn't like this, his body acting without his consent. He just hoped the Doctor knew what he was doing as he made his way from a game's maze.

…

Rose watched nervously as the Doctor played the game. She wasn't exactly thrilled that her brother was being used as the character and that one single mistake meant it could be game over for Craig, but at least she trusted him. It was better for the Doctor to be controlling Craig then somebody who didn't know what they were doing. She noticed that the Quevvil guarding them was watching the Doctor intensely; he hadn't even spared a glance at her or the boy yet, so she suddenly took her chance.

She lunged to the side and ripped the disc off the boy's head causing the cube on his neck to fall away, and when the Quevvil turned to trace the source of the noise, the Doctor leapt up from his seat and tackled the Quevvil to the ground, carefully dodging his lethal looking quills. Rose rushed forwards a jammed the disc onto his head, whilst the Doctor aimed his controller at him and pushed a big blue button, freezing it in place. The Quevvil instantly stopped moving. He was the one being controlled now, and it served him right, at least that was how Rose saw it.

'Good work Rose Tyler' the Doctor grinned as he gave her a hand to her feet.

'Well you can save my brother to make up for it' she grinned back as they hugged.

'Err, what is going on?' a young voice behind them asked and breaking apart, they remember the presence of the boy being held hostage in the room.

'Oh yeah, sorry. What was your name?' the Doctor asked.

'Robert' the boy introduced himself.

'Right Robert, I'm the Doctor and this is Rose, we're here to help you' the Doctor smiled down at him.

'What are those things? I thought they were just man in suits' Robert pointed at the frozen Quevvil.

'It's an alien' Rose said softly and Robert's mouth dropped open.

'Never mind that now though, we need to stop them' the Doctor stated.

'Doctor!' Rose cried. She was watching the screen, and a stuck in place Craig was frozen in front of a Mantodean, which was slowly approaching.

'Oops, sorry Craig' the Doctor yelped as he pointed the controller at the screen and pressing the jump button, causing Craig to leapt out of the way just in time. He then had the blonde man run around the opponent, and to safety.

'Here, hold this and keep an eye on him' the Doctor said, handing the controller to Rose. He plucked the back of it off whilst she held it, and began fiddling with the wires.

'What're you doing?' Rose asked.

'We need it to work better, so I'm improving it' the Doctor smiled up at her, if he could do this, then Craig could move easier and smoother, and that would make it easy to get him to safety.

…

Craig's eyes widened as suddenly his arms and legs were moving much faster and less stiff than before. He could feel the controlling force over him lessen ever so slightly; the Doctor had to have done something to the controller to cause this change. He felt hope bubbling in his stomach, he was going to get out of this place soon, and be back with the Doctor and Rose, just as he should be.

…

'Right, that should do it, Rose you keep playing with Craig, Robert, I need you to help me, we need to find something to give me a better idea of the maze' the Doctor explained as he pushed some boxes stacked against one of the walls to the ground and began riffling through them. It was moments later when Robert pulled something out of one of them.

'How about this?' the young boy asked. He was holding a sort of thick but flexible blue paper, but it was lit up. The Doctor took it off him and realised it was a map, a map of the maze to be more specific.

'Fantastic' he beamed at Robert who smiled slightly; glad he was able to help. He watched as small white lights moved around across it, whilst some blue ones stood still. His eyes widened when he realised what they must represent.

'Right, so the white one, the moving one, they represent the people, the blue ones were stationary which means they're not being played' he quickly explained.

'What, so they're liked saved?' Rose asked.

'Of course!' Mickey said there was a glitch, that the games would only save some of the time, and those sometimes were when the Mantodeans hadn't killed the human that's the player!' he realised.

'And the white ones?' Rose asked.

'They're the humans who are being operated now' he realised. He was instantly back by Rose's side, and had taken the controller out of her hands, and carefully, he began to use Craig in a pretty creative way.

…

Craig felt himself stop, before his hand went into his pocket and it drew out his mobile. With shaky fingers, they began to type the words before him in text form, what they were heading for he had no idea but he guessed the Doctor was the one doing it, using him to communicate.

He watched as the words began to form on his screen.

_Mickey the Idiot,_

_There are sixteen games being used, find and stop them_

_The Doctor._

It read before he pressed the send button. He vaguely wondered what it meant, as he was controlled to walk onwards.

…

'Look at this' Robert pointed at map; bring it over to the Doctor and Rose. They looked at the light he was pointing at, it was jumping around madly.

'What's that?' Rose asked in wonder.

'Let's have Craig find out' the Doctor replied. He began pressing button with the map in front of him, directing Craig towards the jumping light. He noticed Rose digging through her pockets and a moment later she was dialling a number on her mobile.

'Who're you calling?' he asked.

'Mickey, see how he's getting on' she replied as he picked up.

'Mickey it's me, tell me you're making progress' she practically begged him. The sooner they got this sorted, the sooner her big brother would be out of that crazy maze and back with them where he should be.

'Well, sorta. I've got some recruits' she could practically hear the grin in his voice.

'What do ya mean?' she asked curiously.

'I found some kids playing the game down at the youth club and got them to help me stop others from playing the games' he explained.

'Good job' she grinned and he heard him laugh.

'Oh and this also might be of interested, one of them discovered some kind of cheat' he said before she could hang up.

'What's that?' she asked interestedly.

'You have the player jumped around madly, but I'm not actually sure what it does' he explained, his voice lined with his confusion.

'Right, cheers Mickey, and keep it up' she smiled as she hung up.

'He says he's got some help in tracking down the people playing the game. He also mentioned that the jumping thing is some kind of cheat' she explained to the Doctor.

'Well Craig's nearly there' the Doctor nodded at the map and the screen, which showed Craig's light near to the jumping one.

…

Craig was being led through the maze until his legs just stopped. Ahead of him was a woman bouncing up and down on the spot, why? He had no idea. Maybe her controller was malfunctioning. She had black hair and was wearing a green jacket and blue jeans.

He felt his arm go to his back pocket and pull out the sonic screwdriver before he made his way over to the woman. His hand was raised in front of him, and when her neck drew level with it, Craig's fingers pressed the button, causing the cube on her neck to spark and fall away. Instantly the disc fell away and she gasped as she stopped jumping.

'What… what's happening?' she asked fearfully. But unable to answer, Craig was made to just ignore her and move on. She suddenly vanished in a haze of lemon yellow cloud, and had clearly been removed from the game since her disc was gone. It gave Craig hope that soon he could leave this place too.

…

Rose grinned as the Doctor successfully managed to free the other player and that light when out, when suddenly a static ridden voice called through the room. There was clearly an intercom system in this place, and one of the Quevvils was using it to call in.

'Sir, is everything alright?' a voice asked. The Doctor hurriedly pointed the controller at the frozen Quevvil who swiftly got to his feet and marched over to the system on their side. He pressed the button, but they didn't know how, or if they even could, make him answer. Rose suddenly got an idea.

'Fine, everything's fine' she said in a squeaky voice. It was a pretty good impression of how the Quevvils spoke. It seemed good enough, for the static returned as the line went dead.

'Nice one Rose' the Doctor beamed out her.

'I'm just fantastic' she laughed.

'Yeah, yeah you are' he grinned at her. Suddenly her phone rang and she quickly answered it. It was Mickey.

'Rose its Mickey. I'm at the Pye flat, Mrs Pye let me in and I'm looking through the consoles he collected' he explained. The Doctor swiftly took the phone off her and pressed it too his own ear.

'Mickey, I need you to listen and do exactly what I say, and please don't argue because it could cost Craig his life if you don't listen' he said urgently.

'Alright, what'd you need from me?' he asked with a slight huff in his voice.

'I'm sending a code to your phone, when I yell now, press send. Keep the line open but don't say anything' the Doctor told him.

'Gotcha' Mickey replied before the line fell silent.

'Keep it on and in your pocket' he whispered to Rose, who nodded and placed the phone back in her pocket. Just at that moment, the intercom buzzed again.

'Sir, we are wondering why the game is being played differently to the plan' the voice from before asked. Rose was about to put her Quevvil voice back on before the door exploded inwards, and a whole group of Quevvils burst in. With a shocked look at the disc on the Quevvil's head and it seemed that they knew what had been going on. They quickly had the three humanoids at gun point.

'Oh, fantastic' Rose sighed as she put her hands up.

'Move, now!' the Quevvil closest to the door pointed towards the door with his gun. The Doctor, Rose and Robert all obeyed and were led out into the corridor and into a much bigger room. It was filled with other humans that all had discs on their foreheads. And many other Quevvils were there, all with their guns aimed at the powerless people.

'Now then, Doctor, if you stray from the plan just one more time, one of these people will be killed, then other and other until you play the game properly, have you got that' a Quevvil hissed at him. Solemnly, the Doctor nodded and took his place. Soon, very soon…

…

Craig had come to a stop; he was completely locked in place. And he stayed like that for a few minutes, totally unable to move. He had no idea what the Doctor and Rose were doing but he wished they'd get a move on, he felt like a right idiot just stood there unable to move!

And then suddenly he did, back walking onwards. He reached a kind of circular room which had several other hallways leading away, it was clear the centre of the maze he was in. He just hoped that was where he was meant to be aiming for.

…

'Your player has successfully reached the centre' one of the Quevvils said happily.

'The path is clear' another said excitedly.

'Teleports are ready' a third said.

'One my count, one… two… three' the leader said

'NOW!' the Doctor yelled at the exact same instant the Quevvils all began to fade. The Quevvils all flickered and there image changed. It were scattering into nothingness, into dust.

'YES!' the Doctor cheered.

'What was that?' Rose asked wonderingly.

'That was Mickey the Idiot!' the Doctor beamed.

'I heard that' Mickey's voice came from Rose's pocket who smirked as she pulled her phone out and hung up.

'What happened to the Quevvils' Robert asked.

'They were atomised. That signal I had Mickey send disrupted the teleport link so it didn't know where to send them. The signal they were using scattered, and so did they' he explained.

'Excuse me, but… what's happening?' a weak voice asked, and turning, the Doctor, Rose and Robert all saw that all the humans in the room were shaking their heads to clear them as their discs all fell away. They had done it! They had won the game!

…

Craig came to a stop again, and fell over. He had being expecting not to be able to move, and he laughed as he felt his control return in force. He waggled his fingers of his own free will as he leapt to his feet and happily jumped up and down.

'YOU DID IT DOCTOR, YOU DID IT!' he cheered loudly.

'Ex…excuse me, where are we?' a frightened voice interrupted him, and turning his saw the frightened face of a young woman was frizzy red hair and freckles.

'Oh, um…' he trailed off with a sigh. How the hell was he meant to explain this?!

…

It had taken a while, but the Doctor had finally managed to quieten down the confused humans enough to listen, well actually it had taken Rose to scream the words 'Shut Up' for him to regain control of the scene.

'If you'd all stand as still as you can, you'll all be transported home' he spoke up as he activated the teleport, and with no signal to disrupt it, they all vanished in a lemon yellow fizz of smoke.

'We did it' Rose grinned up at him as she took in her surroundings. They were back on earth, back in the Powell Estate courtyard.

'Yeah we did, now I believe we have a certain Craig to go pick up' he smiled down at her.

'Where's my mum' Robert asked as he looked around.

'She's not here' he cried despairingly.

'Well, Mickey had managed to get fifteen of the players out of the maze, so maybe the last one was your mother' the Doctor thought for a moment.

'Come with us' Rose told the boy, and the three of them stepped into the Tardis. Rose and the Doctor both grinned at the poor boy's stunned face.

'Hold on tight' Rose ordered him and he grabbed a hold of the railings, still in stunned shock. The next moment, the Doctor was piloting them away, taking them to find their lost relatives.

'So how are we going to find Craig and mum' Robert asked as he broke out of his silence.

'Oh, the TARDIS'll manage, now the force field's down, I can't quite work out why, but she seems to have taken a shine to that boy' the Doctor grinned as they landed, and opening the door the three of them stepped out into the dark center room of the maze. And standing there grinning madly at the sight of the Tardis, next to a completely bewildered red haired woman, was their precious Craig Tyler.

'DOCTOR! ROSE!' he yelled as he threw himself at them, wrapping them both in a hug which they happily returned.

'MUM!' Robert yelled, darting past them.

'Oh Robbie' the woman cried in happiness as mother and son met in a big hug too.

'Come on then, let's go back to Earth' the Doctor grinned as he ushered Rose and Craig into the time machine that was their home.

'Who are you?' Robert's mother asked suspiciously.

'He's the Doctor mum, and he saved us all' Robert told her, and with a smile he took his mother's hand and led her into the Tardis. The Doctor closed the door, walked past the petrified parent and took the Tardis back to earth. The moment it landed she bolted out of the doors, yelling as she saw the surroundings had changed before she grabbed Robert's hand and began to run away, the young boy calling his goodbye over his shoulder. And in the next moment, they were gone.

'So what now?' the Doctor asked his friends, grinning down at them.

'Now, we have a visit to make' Craig smirked up at him as they went back into the Tardis and it faded once more.

…

'Hi, we're looking for a Miss Jacqueline Tyler, she's our mother' Craig smiled at the young secretary behind the counter. After much pleading, demanding and threatening, Craig had finally convinced the Doctor to land them outside the hospital nearest to them.

'She's just over there' the secretary pointed, and nodding politely at her, Rose and Craig made their way over to the bed bay she had pointed at and pulled back the curtain. And sitting on the bed with an angry red bruise on her face and a horrific purple eye was their mother.

'Oh Rose! Craig! Come here' she cried happily as she saw them. They both rushed to her side and hugged her at once.

'Are you alright mum?' Craig asked concernedly.

'I'm fine, better than fine, but where have you two been; I've been waiting her ages' she cried in annoyance.

'Sorry mum, we had to save the people of London from alien Porcupines' Rose giggled.

'Well, you mother should still com first' Jackie laughed, she was clearly joking and the two of them both laughed with her.

'And, get this, I've been invited to a celebratory party tonight' Jackie grinned at them.

'Celebrating what?' Craig asked curiously.

'Darren Pye has been arrested and refused bail, the entire estate are holding a party, and since I'm the one that got him to prison, I'm the guest of honour' she chuckled.

'Good, he had it coming' Rose grinned.

'Yeah, they think he could get years for it' Jackie nodded happily.

'So you're definitely ok though mum?' Craig asked again.

'Yep, so what about you two, are you staying for the party' she asked.

'Sorry but we've got adventures to have mum, but all you have to do is call and we'll be there in an instant' Rose shook her head sadly, and Jackie sighed slightly.

'Well, I won't stop you, but if you could visit without there being trouble that would be great' she laughed and they hugged their mother one last time.

…

'So, on to the future?' the Doctor asked as he saw Rose and Craig walk out of the hospital doors and towards the Tardis.

'On to the future' Craig nodded. The three of them got into the Tardis, and moments later it faded away, taking them onwards.

**...**

**And that's another one down! Yay! The reason I'm happy that this one is done is because the next adventure is my favourite one of Doctor Who season one! Yup, that time is finally here, Father's Day is next! I really really really love that episode, and so I hope you like what I've done to it : ) But in order to see it, please pretty please leave me one of those reviews I love and appreciate so much : )**


	57. Father's Day, A Past Life Altered

**Hiya! So, great big yay today! We're finally there, Father's Day : ) So, as this is my favourite episode, I'm really eager to hear your thoughts on it, so please review, and thank you all for the ones for the last chapter, but more importantly, enjoy! Please note that I do not own Doctor Who, but Craig Tyler is mine!**

**...**

**Father's Day**

**Father's Day – A Past Life Altered**

The Doctor, Rose, and Craig were all in the control room. The Doctor was sitting back in the captain's chair; Rose was leaning up against the console, whilst Craig was holding her hand. The mood was pretty solemn in comparison to their normal fun, for Rose had brought up a topic which neither her nor her brother had every found that easy to talk about. Rose had brought out a photograph and had handed it to the Doctor.

'Who is he?' said Doctor asked quietly. It showed a man with reddish hair and a wide grin looking at the camera. He was wearing a brown leather jacket over a bright yellow T-Shirt and a gold chain hung around his neck. The Doctor himself was dressed in his usual jacket and black trousers, with a mossy green jumper today.

'Peter Alan Tyler, our dad. The most wonderful man in the world' Rose smiled down at the photo sadly but fondly. She was dressed in a denim jacket, a pink hoodie beneath it and black trousers. The Doctor sighed. He already knew that their father had died when they were both very young, but he was curious as to where this was going.

'How old was he?' he asked softly.

'He was born 15th of September 1954' Craig said quietly in a far-away voice. He was wearing a red hoodie and jean jeans, but his mind and memory were far from the now, thinking back to when he was only about six or seven.

_Rose and Craig, both as young blondish brown hair children poked their heads into their mother's bedroom through her slightly ajar door. She was sitting on her bed; a worn photo-album was on her lap. She looked up at the noise and smiled slightly._

'_Come here you two. Come here...' she whispered, patting the bed on either side of her. Both children rushed into the room and clambered up onto the bed, sitting on each side of her. She held the book out so all three of them could see. On the page in front of them was a picture of their father in a blue, black and white T-Shirt._

'_Who's that? It's your Daddy. Neither of you weren't old enough to remember when he died. 1987. 7th of November. Do you remember what I told you? The day that Stuart Hoskins and Sarah Clarke got married?' she began to retell the story they had heard so many times before, but they still wanted to hear it again. She turned the page, and this photo was one of her and Pete together, both smiling happily at the camera, Pete's arms around her._

'_He was always having adventures. Oh, he would have loved to have seen you two now' she said wistfully. _

Craig smiled to himself; he wished he could see his dad now, just so he'd know that now he and Rose were the ones having those adventures. He suddenly tuned back into the conversation, surprized to find that Rose was telling the Doctor of the memory he had just been playing in his mind.

'That's what mum always says. So, I was thinking... could we? Could we go and see our dad when he was still alive?' she asked the Doctor nervously. Craig looked at him intently. He kind of agreed with Rose, he did want to see his dad, but maybe… maybe it would just be too hard, maybe some parts of past were sometimes best left alone.

'Where's this come from, all of a sudden?' the Doctor asked curiously. He'd take them if they both really wanted, but in comparison to their normal journeys this one seemed a bit depressing.

'All right then, if we can't, if it goes against the laws of times or something, then never mind, we'll just leave it' she almost huffed. It was clear her heart was really set on this.

'No, I can do anything. I'm just more worried about you two' the Doctor admitted.

'I wanna see him. Craig?' she turned to her brother for his opinion. He blinked in surprize. Was it a good idea, he wasn't sure, but the look his younger sister was giving him, it would crush her if she couldn't go do this, so signing, he made up his mind.

'I want to too' he nodded. The Doctor nodded his head slowly, before he stood up.

'Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for' he almost warned as he started up the Tardis engines, and soon they were off and away.

…

As they were swept through the Time Vortex, the Doctor had asked at what point in time did they want to see their dad, so Craig had given the date of the day he and their mum had got married. He didn't know why he had given that date, he just had. Now they were sitting at the back of a small hall behind a group of people, and up at the front was Jackie in pink suit lined with pearly bead, her head piled upon her head. And there he was, their father, or father-to-be, standing right there in front of them, holding their mother's hand. He was wearing a charcoal grey suit with a pink rose attached. The vicar had just reached the vows, and it was Pete's turn.

'I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline, Angela, Suzette Prentiss...' the Vicar started for Pete to repeat.

'I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Suzanne... Suzette... Anita...' he stuttered over the last few names, there were so many! Jackie's eyes narrowed dangerously, and a gulping Pete turned to the Vicar, a pleading look on his face. Some the guests were stifling laughter at the poor man's obvious embarrassment.

'Oh, just carry on. It's good enough for Lady Di' Jackie said after a few moments. The Doctor couldn't help but grin with silent laughter, looking down at Rose and Craig, who were both in a sort of stunned state of mind as they watched.

'I thought he'd be taller' Rose noted.

'I thought Mum was about to murder him' Craig muttered before they fell back into silence to hear the rest of the service.

'To be my lawful wedded wife, to love and behold 'til death us do part' Pete was saying, and those particular words caused Craig's mind to float back to the memory he had thought about earlier.

'_He died so close to home. I wasn't there. Nobody was. It was a hit and run driver. Never found out who. He was dead when the ambulance got there' Jackie said sadly, whilst her children both looked up at her solemnly._

'_I only wish there'd been SOMEONE there for him' their mother sighed, before she wrapped an arm around each of them and hugged them both close._

He had just snapped out of it again as the three of them re-entered the Tardis. And once again it was like Rose knew exactly what her brother was thinking about, but then again it wasn't that surprizing, since they were her thoughts too.

'I wanna be that someone. So he doesn't die alone' she asked with an almost pleading look at the Doctor, who let out a sigh.

'November the 7th?' he asked to confirm.

'1987' Craig nodded, and once again they were off into the vortex, the engines humming whilst both Tylers looked up at them, slightly apprehensively. As soon as they stopped, Rose led the way out the doors, Craig and the Doctor right behind her. They were on a street corner, and it was almost mockingly peaceful. The sky was a sort of dull grey, nothing special, there was no-one around, in fact it was near to silence.

'It's so weird. The day our father died… I thought it'd be all sort of grim and stormy, it's just an ordinary day' Rose said wonderingly.

'The past is another country. 1987's just the Isle of Wight. Are you two sure about this?' the Doctor asked as he looked down at them, seeing their sad expressions.

'Yeah' Rose said quietly, whilst Craig gave an unsure nod. He was in two minds; on the one hand, yes he did want to be there for his father when he died, but on the other, he wanted to get back in the Tardis and fly away. He wasn't sure if he could face this, and he wasn't sure this was good for him or Rose.

'Come on then, which way?' the Doctor asked.

'It's this way' Rose said, leading them in the direction of where the accident had happened. Craig silently followed behind, still not sure of whether this was a one idea or not.

…

Craig sighed as he came to the edge of a wall lined with posters. He had subconsciously slowed down, and now Rose and the Doctor were stood waiting near the curb of the pavement, a few streets from the one they had started in. He was about to go over to them, when one of the posters caught his eye. It had a big yellow smiley face and was labelled 'ENERGIZE'. He was pretty sure that it was advertising a rave of some kind, but what drew his eye were two other words on it, two which were not part of it but had graffitied onto it. BAD WOLF. He sighed again, he was so NOT in the mood for this right now. He had made up his mind and he was planning to tell the Doctor about it, but right now he honestly couldn't care less about whatever BAD WOLF was trying to tell him. He sighed for the third time in as many minutes before he joined the Doctor and Rose by the curb.

'This is it. Jordan Road. He was late. He'd been to get a wedding present - a vase. Mum always said, that stupid vase' she said, sounding so close to tears that Craig slipped his hand into her, giving it a comforting squeeze. A small and slightly old looking green car suddenly came around the corner, and they saw that Pete was the driver of it as he pulled over.

'He got out of the car and starting crossing the road' Craig said softly as Pete stepped out, leaning back over to pick up something in the passenger seat, a white and golden patterned vase.

'Oh, God. This is it' Rose whispered, and in the hopes of giving her a little more comfort and strength, the Doctor gently took her other hand, intertwining their fingers. Another car suddenly rounded the corner, a faded gold colour, and it was heading straight for Pete. He turned around and even from this distance they could see his eyes widen in surprize, and the driver shield his eyes with his arm so he didn't have to see the pedestrian go down. Rose quickly hid her head in Craig chest as he put his other arm around her and hugged her close, whilst closing his eyes tight. There was a loud thud and smash as Pete fell to the ground, twitching ever-so-slightly, whilst the vase fell and shattered. Rose gently lifted her head to see Pete lying in the road on his back.

'Go to him. Quick' the Doctor said gently, but Rose just stood there in shock, completely unable to move.

'Rose?' Craig questioned, this had after all been her idea. She suddenly burst into tears and fled the scene.

'ROSE!' Craig called after her as she ran behind a wall and with a sad but determined look to each other; Craig and the Doctor went after her.

…

Rose was leaning up against a wall, wiping her eyes as Craig and the Doctor came around the corner. None of them asked if she was OK, it was obvious that she wasn't. They both just held her hands and hushed soothingly, until the sound of sirens filled the air.

'It's too late now' she whispered and they both looked miserably down at her.

'By the time the ambulance got there, he was dead' she sobbed. The Doctor sighed and looked away in silence as Craig nodded slightly.

'He can't die on his own' Rose wept, turning to the Doctor who looked back at her..

'Can I try again?' she asked in a begging voice. Craig glanced over at the Doctor. He could see it in his eyes that this would be a very bad idea, but as usual, their friend did not deny them.

…

After running back to the Tardis, they took a very short trip in it, before they stepped out in exactly the same place. It was like the first Tardis and the second Tardis had merged back into one, but as they looked down the street, they could see themselves heading up the street ahead of them, the first versions of them. They silently crept behind them, careful to make sure they weren't heard or seen by their past selves. The crouched near the wall with all the posters, looking around the edge as their previous selves stood near the curb.

'Right. That's the first versions of us. It's a very bad idea, two sets of us being here at the same time. Just be careful they don't see us. Wait until she runs off and they follow, and then go to your dad' the Doctor instructed them. And they watched as once again, their father's car drew up.

'Oh, God. This is it' they heard the first Rose whisper as Pete picked up the vase from the passenger seat.

'I can't do this' the current Rose trembled with a strange sense of fear.

'You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but this is the last time we can be here' the current Doctor said gently but firmly. Craig shook slightly, but he was strong enough to do this… he hoped. He looked down at his sister, she was staring at Pete, her breathing slightly laboured and heavy, and then, without warning, she bolted from their hiding place.

'Rose! No!' the Doctor yelled after her.

'Come back!' Craig called too, but it was no good. Rose came on going, just as the hit-and-run car rounded the corner. She rushed past the first version of herself, the Doctor and Craig, who all looked shocked as their heads followed her path; before she jumped into the road, grabbed Pete by the waist and forcing him out of the way. She fell on top of him as the vase fell to the ground but didn't break, it simply rolled away as the car just drove straight on. The first versions of the three of them looked on in bewildered shock before they literally vanish into a golden light, whilst the present Doctor looked on in horror, and the current Craig looked on with a gobsmacked expression lining his face. Rose just stared at the man she had just saved as they got to their feet.

'I did it! I saved your life!' she breathed out.

'Blimey, did you see the speed of it? Did you get his number?' Pete asked, looking in the direction the car had driven off in.

'I really did it. Oh, my God, look at you! You're alive! That car was gonna kill ya!' Rose beamed at him.

'Well, give me some credit, I did see it coming. I wasn't gonna walk under it, was I?' Pete replied, a little ungratefully but who cared? He was alive!

'I'm Rose' she introduced herself, expecting it to have a sort of impression on him. After all, she was still his daughter, surely he'd get that.

'That's a coincidence. That's my daughter's name' he smiled.

'That's a great name. Good choice, well done' she said delightedly, staring at him, but it seemed as though Pete didn't know what to say next.

'Right, I'd better shift. I've got a wedding to go to' he said eventually.

'Is that Sarah Clarke's wedding?' she asked, knowing it was, but she didn't want him to leave yet, she had only just saved him for crying out loud!

'Yeah, are you going?' he asked with a smile.

'… Yeah' she nodded slowly. She wasn't meant to be, but she'd already gate-crashed once today, so why not again.

'You and your mates need a lift?' he offered, gesturing to the Doctor and Craig, who were watching from the corner, were still standing.

'Yeah, the blonde's my brother and the other one's…' she trailed off, wondering how best to describe her relationship to the Doctor.

'Your boyfriend' he supplied and she just shrugged.

'Anyway, a lift would be great thanks' she grinned, getting into the passenger seat after waving the Doctor and Craig over. Pete got into the driver's seat as they came over.

'This is bad right, how bad is it?' Craig asked weakly.

'Oh this is beyond bad, WAY beyond bad' the Doctor sounded absolutely furious and Craig decided not to say anything else, so they got into the back seats in total silence.

…

Since he needed to get ready for the wedding, Pete had asked if they didn't mind him taking him to his flat first before they went on. Rose had spoken up before either the Doctor or Craig could, saying yes, so now they were standing outside the flat, letting Pete let them in and leading them inside. It was almost the same as it was now, just a little bit least modern. Pete put the vase down on a table near the door as they went down the wall.

'There we go. Sorry about the mess. If you want a cup of tea, the kitchen's just down there, milk's in the fridge... well, it would be, wouldn't it? Where else would you put the milk? Mind you, there's always the window sill outside. I always thought if someone invented a window sill with special compartments, you know, one for milk, one for yogurt... make a lot of money out of that' he babbled on and Rose watched him talk delightedly, whilst Craig smiled wearily and the Doctor politely nodded from behind her, his expression carefully masked..

'Sell it to students and things… I should write that down. Anyway, never mind that, excuse me…' he said, gently pushing through them and disappearing through the door to what in their time would be just Jackie's room, although it might not be now. Rose slowly walked into the living room, Craig sat on the arm of the sofa as the Doctor leaned up against the edge of the glass wall.

'All the stuff mum kept. His stuff. She kept it all packed away in boxes in the cupboard, she used to show us when she'd had a bit to drink' Rose babbled away, strangely like Pete had just done, whilst the Doctor stayed silent, as did Craig.

'Here it is. On display. Where it SHOULD be' she continued, not looking at the Doctor folding his arms, his expression turning from neutral to anger. She picked up a gold trophy Craig remembered Jackie telling them about and showed it to the Doctor.

'Third prize at the bowling… first two got to go to Didcot' She smiled; her mum had always sounded so bitter that she hadn't got to go. She looked at it for a few more seconds before putting it back, her attention now on a box of large bottles in the corner. She knelt down to look closer at it.

'Health drinks. Tonics, mum used to call them. He made his money selling this Vitex stuff. He had all sorts of jobs. He's so clever' she said proudly. Still the Doctor and Craig remained silent, although for different reasons. The Doctor was furious, and Craig fearing the raging argument that was about to come soon. Rose had spotted some bits of paper on the table and had gone to them.

'Solar power. Mum said he was gonna do this. Now he can' she smiled at the Doctor, but it faltered when it was not returned. Craig braced himself, here it comes…

'Okay, look… I'll tell him you're not my boyfriend' she said softly as a small peace offering. But the Doctor just looked at her, and when he opened his mouth, he sounded suspicious.

'When we met, I said 'travel with me in space'. You said no. Then I said 'time machine'' he said quietly, leaving the clear accusation open.

'It wasn't some big plan. I just saw it happening and I thought… I can stop it' she shrugged.

'I did it again. I picked another STUPID ape. I should've known. It's not about showing you the universe - it never is. It's about the universe doing something for you' he said harshly. But it seemed as though his opinion was only making Rose angry too.

'So it's okay when YOU go to other times, and YOU save people's lives - but not when it's me saving my dad' she countered with.

'I know what I'm doing, YOU don't. Two sets of us being there made that a vulnerable point' he shot back.

'But he's alive!' she exclaimed. Why was this so hard for him to accept?!

'My entire planet died. My whole family. Do you think it never occurred to me to go back and save them?' he asked in frustration.

'But it's not like I've changed HISTORY. Not much, I mean… he's never gonna be a world leader, he's not gonna start World War Three or anything…' she pointed out, but the Doctor just took a step closer to her, trying to get his point across.

'Rose - there's a man alive in the world who wasn't alive before. An ordinary man, that's the most important thing in creation. The whole world's different because he's alive' he told her with the upmost sincerity.

'What, would you rather him dead?' she accused.

'I'm not saying that…' he said exasperatedly before she cut him off.

'No, I get it! For once, YOU'RE not the most important man in my life' her words hit him like a slap. The Doctor's face darkened and Craig could tell he had been pushed too far.

'Let's see how you get on without me, then, give me the key' he growled, holding at his hand expectantly. Rose just stared at him, as Craig looked on, horrified at what the Doctor was actually saying.

'The TARDIS key. If I'm so insignificant, give it me back' he snapped. Rose got it out of her pocket, her expression just as furious and determined as the Doctor's.

'Alright then I will' she shot at him, before she literally forced it into his hand, hard.

'Well, you've got what you wanted so that's goodbye then' the Doctor said in a hard tone. He chanced a look at Craig, but he knew without it being said that Craig would stay with Rose; he would NOT be responsible for splitting two siblings up.

'See ya Craig' he said coldly before he span on the spot and began walking towards the door. Rose pursued him, not finished her piece yet.

'You don't scare me' she hissed at him, standing between him and the door as Craig came into the hall, watching silently.

'I know how sad you are. You'll be back in a minute. Or you'll hang around outside the TARDIS waiting for us' she smirked viciously at him, but he just pushed past her, storming out the door.

'And I'll make you wait a long time!' she yelled through it, slamming the door behind him before leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. Craig just gave her a calculating look, which seemed to be annoying her too.

'Don't look at me like that, he had it coming' she snapped.

'Did he?' Craig quirked his eyebrow at her.

'He's our dad Craig, why shouldn't I have saved him?' she asked in a firm tone.

'Because it wasn't the plan, and the Doctor would never have brought us here if it was. I knew I was right, we should never have come here' he sighed.

'Yeah, well I'm glad we did, I still say I was right, he's just too stubborn to admit it' she gestured in annoyance at the closed door.

'I don't think it was him in the wrong, and I think you know that too' Craig said softly as he opened the door.

'Why are you going?' she asked incredulously, her face red with anger. She couldn't believe Craig, her Big Brother, was taking the Doctor's side over her's.

'To calm him down to be reasonable, and to give YOU time to calm down too' he said quietly.

'I meant what I said, I'm not scared of him' she said softly.

'I know, it isn't fear you feel for him, I think it's a lot more special than that' he nodded before exiting the flat. Rose sighed; maybe Craig was right, had this really been worth it? She wasn't so sure anymore. She slowly shut the door behind him. Pete suddenly poked his head around the bedroom door.

'Men trouble?' he asked simply. Rose just sighed, but did not respond.

…

Craig sighed. He sure was doing that a lot today. He was walking slowly through the streets towards the Tardis, looking around for the Doctor. He knew he'd still be fuming about this, so Craig was taking his time to let him cool off a bit before he tried to smooth the situation.

It wasn't that he completely disagreed with what Rose had done, he could see WHY she had done it, but he knew it was wrong, even if she didn't. Pete had died in their life, that had shaped them in a way into who they were now, and that could easily change now. And this entire mess had mucked up their friendship with the Doctor, and after everything they had been through together, he wouldn't let it be ruined by something he'd made his peace with.

He rounded a corner and passed a woman wearing a pair of bright pink leggings and a top with purple and pink hearts all over it. A green headband was tucked under her huge frizzy brown hair. She was dressed typically for this time period.

He barely paid her any attention as he walked past her, but as he got a few feet away, he heard a piercing scream, and in fear he whirled on the spot… only to see nothing there. Well, almost nothing. On the pavement was a discarded green headband, and the woman who had been wearing it was nowhere in sight. He frowned; there was nowhere she could have gone, so she must have run off down the street. Maybe she was just a nutter. The eighties was full of them.

He shook his head, he didn't have time for this, he needed to go talk to the Doctor and calm him down, and setting off at a run, he swiftly headed for the Tardis, hoping he wasn't going to be too late to stop this situation getting worse.

…

Rose had hastily apologised for making such a scene to Pete, who just shrugged it off before going back into the bedroom to finish getting changed. She had needed a distraction, she was still so angry, not only at the Doctor but her brother, how could he pick a dead Pete Tyler over a living one? He was their father for crying out loud!

She began to pick some peanuts off the coffee table, putting them on a plate, just so she had something else to think about as Pete came into the room, now in a light grey suit.

'Excuse me, do you mind? What're you tidying up for? He frowned at her. She quickly stopped.

'Sorry... force of habit' she muttered quietly, in a very down voice. Pete smiled encouragingly at her.

'Listen, don't worry about them. Siblings always fight now and then, and couples have rows all the time' he tried to comfort her.

'We're not a couple. Why does EVERYONE think we're a couple?' Rose huffed as she literally fell onto the sofa, emotionally exhausted.

'I think he left me' she whispered. A wave of guilt hit her, not about saving Pete, but she shouldn't have argued with him and said those things. He'd done so much for her, for Craig, and now she'd gone a mucked it all up!

'What, a pretty girl like you? If I was going out with you…' Pete started, but that was too gross to listen to, father and daughter? EWWW!

'Stop! Right there!' she cut over him.

'I was just saying…' he tried to explain, sounding worried that he'd offended her.

'I know what you're saying, and we're not going there. At no point are we going anywhere NEAR there. You aren't even aware that THERE exists' she said firmly, ignoring the fact that Pete was looking quite confused by her little rant.

'I don't even want to think about THERE, and believe me, neither do you. THERE… for you… is like… pfft, it's like the Bermuda Triangle' she elaborated.

'Blimey, you know how to flatter a bloke' he commented sarcastically as she jumped to her feet, grabbed her jacket before offering her arm for Pete to take.

'Right, are we off?' she changed the subject, that one was just to… disgusting and weird to think about.

'So, that wouldn't be a mixed signal at all' he frowned, pointing out the arm she had offered.

'Absolutely not' she shook her head seriously. Pete just sighed and took her arm, albeit it resignedly as they headed for the door.

'I'll take you back to the loony bin where you belong. Still, I'm sure I've met you somewhere before…' he said wonderingly as they left the flat. Rose just stayed quiet; she had no reply for that comment after all.

…

Craig let out a sigh of relief as he rounded a corner. There ahead of him was the Tardis; the Doctor hadn't left them behind yet. He headed over and stood in front of the door, waiting for the Doctor. He thought he heard something in the sky, but looking up, he saw nothing. He shook his head again, what the hell was going on here today?!

**...**

**And there's the first part : ) So, I really hope you enjoyed that, and again, thank you all for your reviews and please keep doing it! See you in the next chapter : )**


	58. Father's Day, A Wound in Time

**Hello everyone! Happy Easter : ) So here's the next part of Father's Day, I hope you enjoy it : ) As always, Doctor Who is not own by me, but Craig Tyler is : )**

**...**

**Father's Day – A Wound in Time**

The Doctor was still scowling as he rounded the corner to where the Tardis was parked. He was so angry. He'd trusted Rose more than anything, she'd lit up his dark dreary world like sunshine, she'd captured his hearts and then… she broke them, just like that! She saw another man in front of her and ran out to him! It made his blood boil.

He looked up ahead and sighed, there, standing up against the Tardis was Craig, his arms folded, looking at him with a calculating look. He began walking toward the blonde and the blue box, taking the key he had taken back from his traitorous friend out of his pocket.

'I know what you're gonna say so you might as well not bother' he told Craig with a scowl, causing said Craig to glare right back at him.

'And what was I gonna say?' he asked in a harsh voice. After all, the only thing he had done was not put a stop to this before it had begun.

'That I'm wrong and Rose is right' he accused. He mentally reminded himself that it was Rose he was angry at and he shouldn't be taking it out on Craig.

'Well for your information Your Lordship of Time, I wasn't going to say that at all. In fact, I've told Rose that she shouldn't have saved Pete' he spat venomously at the Doctor, who blinked in surprize.

'He's your dad' the Doctor said bewilderedly, confused as to why Craig wouldn't think it was right to save him.

'And he died, he died when I was a year old and nothing should change that, not you, or me, or Rose. His death made our lives happen the way they did, and I love the life I live, with you, Rose, and time and space. I wouldn't want this to take it from me, but if you're leaving Rose you'll just have to leave me too, cause I will not abandon her' Craig said sadly.

'I'm not leaving her. I…' he trailed off.

'Love her' Craig supplied. Slowly, the Doctor nodded his head. So Craig was right, the Doctor and Rose were both falling in love! He knew it, he just knew it! But then the memory of their fight returned, and the smile which had come to his lips faded again.

'Then why argue like that?' Craig asked with a sigh.

'She broke my trust, of course I'm upset by that' the Doctor exclaimed in frustration.

'Isn't that a human reaction?' Craig mused in mock wonder.

'And being human is fantastic, that's why Rose saved Pete, that's why I brought you both with me, cause you're human' the Doctor nodded.

'Anyway, you don't have to worry, I wasn't going to leave you both here, I care about you too much to let this ruin it' the Doctor admitted.

'So you came to the Tardis because…' Craig wanted to know.

'I wanted a cuppa and some time to cool off before I go back for round two' the Doctor explained.

'Well then, I'll put the kettle on' Craig smiled slightly as he put his own key in the lock of the door. He turned it, only to find a small blue box on the inside. The Doctor instantly pushed past him, standing in the box and feeling the walls, looking at the interior in frantic panic.

'But… where's the Tardis gone?' Craig asked fearfully. Without the Tardis they'd be stuck in 1987, with or without the Doctor, forever. But said Doctor didn't answer his question.

'Rose!' he cried in panic, and Craig knew what that must be, trouble, and they had to find Rose. So hand in hand, the two men began running in the direction of where they'd last seen their missing companion.

…

Rose sighed. She was really feeling guilty now. Maybe Craig was right, she'd broken the Doctor's trust and after everything he'd done for them both she'd well and truly messed it up. But the man sitting next to her was worth that right… right?

Pete was driving his car with her in the passenger sit, and oblivious to her internal debate, he was telling her about some of his business plans and dealings.

'I met this bloke at the Horse's, and he's cutting me in on copyright' he said happily. Rose frowned; Jackie had never made it sound like that when she was growing up…

'But I thought you were a proper businessman and that' she countered.

'I wish! Ah, I do a bit of this, a bit of that - a straight bloke, trying to bring up his kids' he scoffed.

'Kids, as in more than one' she pressed. She really needed to know this, just how he felt about her and Craig, maybe then she would know if it had been worth it.

'Oh yeah, my baby girl's called Rose but we have another one, a little boy named Craig' Pete smiled at the mention of his children and Rose couldn't help but smile too. He clearly loved his kids very much.

'Oh, that's a nice name for a boy' she told him.

'Yeah, poor little tyke's a bit off colour though, he's staying with a neighbour today so we could come to the wedding' he explained.

'What's up with him?' she asked. She remembered from her mum's story that only she had been at the wedding, that Craig had been ill the week before and wasn't there.

'Just a stomach bug we think, but it's keeping him up all night and making him cry, poor thing' Pete sighed.

'So anyway, you're really a bit of a… a Del Boy then?' she changed the conversation back.

'Oh, shoot me down in flames. You're not related to my wife by any chance, are you?' he joked. But it caused Rose's hand to clap too her mouth and her eyes to widen.

'Oh, my God… she's gonna be at the wedding' she realised.

'What, Jackie? Do you know her?' he asked interestedly.

'Sort of' she said after a pause.

'What's she told you about me, then?' Pete asked.

'She said she'd picked the most fantastic man in the world' Rose smiled happily.

'Must be a different Jackie, then. She'd never say that' Pete scoffed before sighing. Suddenly the radio made static noises before it flared into life, playing out a rap song.

'Put ya phone back, stop staring into space!' the singer sang.

'This stuff goes right over my head' Pete scowled in irritation at the song. Rose paused to listen before she frowned deep in thought. It was 1987, but that couldn't be right…

'That's not out yet' she muttered in confusion. How the hell could it be being played now?!

'It's a good job and all' Pete grimaced before sighing in relieve as Rose turned the radio off. Sitting back, she dug in her pocket for her mobile, wondering if Craig had managed to calm the Doctor down yet, but of course he wouldn't need calming down if she'd have just stuck to the plan, she thought to herself bitterly.

'I'm just gonna check my messages' she sighed.

'How d'ya mean, messages?' Pete asked curious before turning to look at her.

'Is that a phone?' he asked interestedly.

'Yeah…' she said quietly. She kept forgetting that it was twenty years before her own time, so a mobile was out of place here. But it was too late now, so she just placed the phone to her ear.

'Watson - come here - I need you. Watson - come here - I need you' a man's voice said. She just frowned in confusion as the voice kept repeating itself, before she hung up and returned the phone to her pocket, just as Pete turned a corner in the road.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't see a faded gold car keep going down the road they had been on, she didn't see that it's driver was shielding his eyes, like he was about to hit something that wasn't there, and she definitely didn't see it fade out of existence completely in a flash of gold.

…

The Doctor and Craig had run all the way back to the flat, but to their dismay, they found it lacking Rose and Pete.

'They must have gone to the wedding' the Doctor thought aloud as they set off down the stairs.

'But I still don't understand, where has the inside of the Tardis gone?' Craig asked in confusion as they reached the bottom of the flight of stairs and began running again.

'There's been an accident in time, a wound in time, and the inside of the Tardis has been thrown out of it' the Doctor explained.

'Please tell me this isn't because of what I think it is' Craig groaned.

'Yes, it's because Pete Tyler is still alive' the Doctor nodded grimly. They charged their way through the streets, heading for the church Craig knew Sarah Clarke and Stuart Hoskins had got married in, when the blonde man suddenly skipped to a stop. The Doctor frowned at him before going over to him.

'What is it, we need to get to Rose' he told him urgently. But Craig wasn't listening. Instead he was looking across the street, and turning to look, the Doctor saw what he was looking at. A woman with dark brown curly hair was pushing a blue pram in front of her, and in that pram was a little boy, a sort of sickly pale colour, with a tuft of blonde hair.

'I don't believe it' Craig breathed in awe.

'What is it?' the Doctor asked curiously.

'That boy in the pram, that toddler, it's me, 1987 me' Craig whispered and the Doctor's eyes widened as they drifted from the adult Craig to the baby Craig.

'This is bad, we should get away from him now' the Doctor said urgently.

'Why, I mean, it is me after all' Craig asked in puzzlement.

'Exactly, and with the inside of the Tardis gone it shows that time is already damaged, and you two are the same person, if you even touched him there'd be a massive paradox' the Doctor explained as they watched the woman pass them on the other side of the road and round a corner.

'Why isn't he at the wedding anyway' the Doctor asked through a sigh of relief.

'I was ill that week, stomach bug, so a friend of mum's was looking after me on the day of the wedding' Craig shrugged as they resumed their run.

'Well we need to get to Rose to ensure you ARE looked after' the Doctor said grimly, confusing Craig slightly but he didn't pause to ask, he just kept running. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he'd feel a lot better having his baby sister in the same place as him and the Doctor.

…

Rose was slumped in her chair as Pete rounded another corner, heading into the street where the wedding was going to be held. She knew it wasn't right, but she'd built up this idea in her head of what Pete was going to be like, but he wasn't like that at all, he was just an average bloke, no more no less.

She was sitting in silence when suddenly out of nowhere a faded gold car shot out in front of them. Her eyes widened as she saw it heading straight at them.

'Dad!' she yelled in fear. Pete had to swerve to avoid it, mounting the curb in the process, but thankfully the car missed and it carried on straight past them at speed. She sat there, staring straight ahead, shaken. She'd called him Dad! It had just came out but she'd let it slip! Damn it!

'It's that car! The same one as before!' Pete noted aloud as they both got out the car. She noticed that Pete was looking up the street in confusion.

'It was right in front of us, where's it gone?' he wondered before he turned to face her.

'You called me 'dad', what did you say that for?' he asked in confusion, but thankful a snapping voice spoke up, saving Rose from having to come up with an excuse.

'Oh, wonderful. Here he is, the accident waiting to happen' a very familiar voice yelled, and turning, Rose's eyes widened as she looked at the younger version of Jackie Tyler. She was dressed in a peach colour frilly dress, and her hair was frizzy and enormous. She carefully had to hide a laugh at her mother's fashion sense at this point in time.

Her younger mother was standing on the pavement outside the ground of the large towering stone-work church, a red carry-tot in her arms, clearly used to carry a baby… a baby Rose!

'You'd be late for your own funeral and it nearly was!' she was ranting at Pete.

'No damage done' he countered, looking down slightly.

'And who's this?' Jackie asked with distain as she saw sight of the grown up Rose, who didn't reply but just stared at her in stunned shock.

'What're YOU looking at with your mouth open?' she shouted at her, and Rose realised too late that she'd been staring.

'Your hair' she said simply, since it was the first thing that came to mind.

'What?!' Jackie snapped, very confused.

'I've never seen it like…' Rose started before she realised Jackie was staring at her, both confused and slightly insulted.

'I mean… it's lovely, your hair's lovely' she quickly amended, before deciding to change the subject. What too? The baby version of herself…

'And that baby you're holding…' she trailed off. Jackie just looked at her as if concerned for her sanity, holding the baby Rose to her protectively.

'That would be… your baby…' Rose mumbled out.

'Another one of yours, is she?' Jackie turned angrily to Pete who shook his head.

'She saved my life!' Pete argued.

'Oh, that's a new one! What was it LAST time?' Jackie spat at him. Pete suddenly looked a little shifty and looked down.

'I didn't even know her. She was a cloakroom attendant. I was helping her look for my ticket. There were three duffel coats all the same, somehow the rack collapsed. We were under all this stuff' he explained for Rose's benefit.

'Were you playing around?!' Rose asked angrily. She couldn't believe this! Her dad! He was her dad and he'd being playing around! But she realised once again too late she'd spoken out of term. Jackie and Pete had no clue who she really was, so her reaction would seem like she was sticking her nose into their marriage.

'What's it got to do with YOU what he gets up to?' Jackie shouted at her, but Rose was starting to lose her own temper. She wanted to know if Pete had been a good husband and she wanted to know now!

'What DOES he get up to?' she demanded, her own voice rising.

'YOU'D know' Jackie shot at her with a scoff.

'Oh, 'cos I'm that stupid. I play around and then bring her home to meet the missus. You silly cow…' Pete chipped in here.

'But you ARE that stupid' Jackie nastily shot at him.

'Can we keep this stuff back home? Just for now?' Pete shouted at her.

'What, with the rest of the rubbish?' she shot back at him.

'You bring home cut-priced detergents, tonic water, Betamax tape and NONE of it works - I'm DROWNING in your rubbish' Jackie raged before turning her temper back on Rose.

'What did he tell you? Did he say he's this big businessman, 'cos he's not. He's a failure. Born failure, that one. Rose and Craig both need a proper father' she told Pete before he started talking over her.

'Jackie, I'm making a living, it keeps us fed, don't it?' he protested, clearly not wanting to hear he was a bad father to the kids he clearly loved.

'Stop it!' a distressed Rose cried, and they both stopped talking, turning to her.

'You're not like this… you LOVE each other' she protested. Pete looked at her in confusion and moments later Jackie just scoffed.

'Oh, Pete. You never used to like them mental. Or I dunno, maybe you did' she said nastily to her husband.

'Jackie, wait, just listen' Pete tried to reason with her.

'If you're not careful, there'll be a wedding and a divorce on the same day' she threatened before she walked away, comforting a crying baby Rose. Pete sighed before turning to the adult Rose.

'Right, wait here. Give us a couple of minutes with the missus' he said before he started walking away, before he turned back, taking the vase she had been carrying and giving her his car keys.

'Tell you what, straighten the car up. Stick her round the corner or something. Don't cause any more trouble…' he shot at her before he stalked away, leaving a moist-eyed Rose standing alone by the car.

…

'Which way is it?' the Doctor asked as they came to a fork in the road.

'This way' Craig said, leading him into another road. They began running down it skidding to a stop to avoid running into an elderly lady with white hair and a long cream fur coat. She was using a walking stick to move around.

'Carefully! I don't know, young men these days…' she huffed loudly as she began to walk away from them. The Doctor and Craig just looked at each other before turning and beginning at run again, only to skid to a stop when they heard her cry out. They turned back only to see her walking stick on the ground, and its owner was nowhere in sight.

'That happened earlier, a woman screamed just after I passed her in the street, but when I turned back she wasn't there' Craig explained in confusion.

'Oh shit… it's worse than I thought, come on!' the Doctor ordered Craig, and soon they were off and running again.

…

Rose stood alone and silently as she saw Pete and Jackie talking not that far from her, and thankfully Jackie was being calmer than before. Now she just seemed sad rather than angry.

'I'm not listening. It's just the duffel coats all over again' she was shaking her head miserably.

'Jackie, sometimes a duffel coat is just a duffel coat. Things will get better soon, I promise' Pete said in a pleading voice, putting a reassuring hand on his wife's shoulder.

'I've had enough of all your daft schemes. I never know where the next meal's coming from' Jackie sighed.

'I'll get it right, love. I promise, one day soon I'll get it right. Come on…' he said pleadingly, completely desperate. Rose smiled slightly as she watched him winning her round. Suddenly a little dark-skinned boy in a grey suit round around the corner. Her eyes widened as she realised who he was, he was a young Mickey Smith!

'Monsters! Coming to eat us!' young Mickey cried. One of the bridesmaids, a woman called Suzie, dressed in a pink jacket and hat, and a purple skirt with blonde hair called out to him.

'What sort of monsters, sweetheart? Is it aliens?' she and the other bridesmaid, who Rose knew to be the younger version of her mother's friend Bev, laughed loudly as Mickey run into the church. The bride was also laughing from behind her dark hair and flowing beautiful white wedding dress. Rose watched Mickey run into the church, taking his words much more seriously.

'Rose!' a voice yelled from behind her, and with a smug satisfied grin, she turned on the spot. The Doctor and Craig were both running towards her, and she grinned a little wider, she knew Craig would be able to talk him round.

'Get in the church!' the Doctor ordered, and hearing the urgency in his voice her smiled faded.

'Oh my god!' she heard Craig yell in shock, looking at something in the sky to her left, and following her big brother's gaze, she turned and looked up. In a flash of orange fiery light, a creature formed right in front of her. In the sky hovered a large scaly dragon-like creature. It had eerie red eyes, which were glowing in their sockets, and large bat like semi-transparent wings, a faded black in colour. It long tail ended in a strange sort of scythe, and its four arms merged together to form some kind of growling jaw.

She looked up at it in stunned fear and it looked right back at her for a moment, before it let out a shrieking wail and opened its four claws arms, revealing another large gapping mouth on its chest.

It dove towards her suddenly and she let out a scream of terror, before she was pushed to the ground by the Doctor and Craig, just in time to cause the creature to miss her. The three quickly scrambled to their feet.

'Get in the church!' the Doctor called to the group still standing in front of the church. The bride; Sarah Clarke, Suzie, Bev all headed for the gates whilst Jackie hurriedly picked up the carry-tot with baby Rose in it before she and Pete made after them. The Doctor, Rose, and Craig were soon bringing up the rear. But the group were forced to stop as up in the sky, hovering around the church faded in two more of those creatures.

'Oh, my God. What are they? WHAT ARE THEY?!' Suzie shrieked, causing quite a commotion. And clearly she had disturbed the people in the church, for soon all the other guests came spilling out onto the steps at the front, looking out at them.

'Inside!' the Doctor ordered, but at the same time one of the creatures began bearing down on them.

'Stay in there!' the Doctor ordered the people at the church doors, who some of were trying to come out. A man in a grey suit with a white rose attached to the front with light brown hair stopped in his tracks, he was clearly Stuart Hoskins, the groom. But an older man, dressed in a similar suit but with balding black hair didn't listen and ran out, only to have the creature dive down on him. Although the creature's wing blocked their view, they could hear the man screaming and the sound of chomping, the creature was clearly devouring him.

The next thing anyone knew, the bride had clearly freaked out in her fear and made a mad dash for the door, only for another one of the creatures to position itself in her way. She screamed loudly at it, and suddenly it changed target, and floated over and consumed the priest instead. The Doctor watched in disgusted horror before he started ushering all the others in before him.

'In!' he ordered them, and rushing through the open doors, he turned on the spot and slammed them shut as one of the creatures swooped towards them. Through the closed doors the sounds of the creatures shrieking and screaming could clearly be heard.

All around the room, the guests were chatting away in panic, but the Doctor paid them no mind, looking at the windows, seeing the creatures' shadows moving across them, they were still out there and he knew that they weren't going to go anywhere.

'They can't get in. Old windows and doors, okay. The older something is, the stronger it is. What else?' he thought aloud, hearing the creatures still screeching.

'Go and check the other doors! Move!' he told the guests, pushing past them and forcing a wooden door in the side of the church completely shut before he locked it. Jackie was following close behind him.

'What's happening? What are they?' she demanded, grabbing his arm when he didn't reply.

'What ARE they?' she asked more firmly.

'There's been an accident in time, a wound in time. They're like bacteria, taking advantage' the Doctor stated quickly, he didn't have time to argue and especially not with the Queen of the Slaps.

'What do you mean, time? What're you jabbering on about, time?' she looked at him as if he were insane.

'Oh, I might've known you'd argue. Jackie, I'm sick of you complaining…' he started in a very irritated voice.

'How d'you know my name?' she cut him off.

'I haven't got time for this…' he talked over her, but of course she was louder.

'I've never met you in my life!' she argued.

'No, and you never will unless I sort this out. Now, if you don't mind - I've waited a long time to say this - Jackie Tyler, do as I say. Go - and - check - the – doors' he ordered, pointing in the direction of the other doors. Jackie just stared at him, and then something amazing happened.

'Yes, sir' she said softly, rushing away to do as instructed. The Doctor couldn't help but grin, he'd done it, he'd finally beat Jackie Tyler in an argument, that was just fantastic! His grin stayed on his face as the groom, Stuart, approached him.

'I should've done that ages ago' he told the younger man.

'My dad was out there' Stuart replied and the Doctor sighed, once again he had been unable to save someone, but right now he didn't have time to think about it, he had to focus on keeping his Rose and his Craig alive.

'You can mourn him later, right now we've got to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive' he told him gently but firmly, saying it as kindly as he could.

'My dad had…' Stuart persisted but the Doctor was also persistent.

'There's NOTHING I can do for him' he said firmly.

'No. But he had this phone thing. I can't get it to work. I keep getting this voice…' Stuart explained as the Doctor took a huge black bulky phone off the distressed human.

'Watson - come here - I need you. Watson - come here - I need you' a voice said, and the Doctor's eyebrows flew up his head. He knew that voice, but it just couldn't be…

'That's the very first phone-call, Alexander Graham Bell. I don't think the telephone's gonna be much use' he said as he gave the phone back to Stuart,

'But someone needs to call the police!' Stuart called after him.

'Police can't help you now. No-one can' he said firmly. Craig and Rose just stared at him; surely he wasn't saying there was no way out of this. They'd seen so many things, and there had always been a way out of it, why was this time any different?

'Nothing in this Universe can harm those things. Time's been damaged and they've come to sterilise the wound. By consuming everything in sight' he said, fear in his voice. He was looking right at Rose now.

'Is this because…' she started shakily and the Doctor looked down at her, and the fearfully look on her beautiful face stopped any anger in him from rising up again. He just couldn't bring himself to be angry at her when she looked so lost and scare.

'Is this my fault?' she asked quietly. He didn't reply, but that was answer enough. He walked past her as Craig gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder. It was clear that the answer was yes. Rose choked back a sob, she'd fix this mess she'd made, she didn't know how, but somehow she'd find a way to put this right. What she didn't know was that things would get a lot worse before they got better.

**...**

**So, there it is : ) Part two! Now someone asked me in a review how many chapter off this fic there will be, so I thought I'd explain it to everyone. In total, for season 1 there will be 160 chapters. Yes, your eyes are telling you the truth, 160! But only 120 of them will be in this story, and 40 in the other story. The reason for this is because there are 13 episodes, 6 books, plus 21 stories of my own creation, so that's 40x4=160. So once Father's day is finished this story will be halfway done, and once I hit chapter 20 in my other story, that one will be halfway too. Hope that answers that question. The next chapter will be called 'Fading Away' and will see Rose's guilt grow by about a thousand times, so that's something to look forward too : )**


	59. Father's Day, Fading Away

**Hello! Here's the next chapter, and might I say, it's one of my favourite's to date. So I really hope you all enjoy it too ; ) Please note that Craig Tyler is owned by me, but Doctor Who is not : )**

**...**

**Father's Day – Fading Away**

Whilst the Doctor, who had roped Pete and Jackie into helping him, made sure that all the doors to the church were securely locked and bolted, Craig fearfully peered out of a window. Up in the sky were more of those creatures, and running for their lives on the street outside were a mother and child. He watched as two of the creatures swooped down on them. Just outside the church the mother was consume with a scream. The girl kept on going, only to be eaten a few steps along. He covered his mouth with is hand in horror, the only signs that life had actually been out there was an abandoned bicycle, a pram which had fallen over, and a girl's shoe. There was nothing moving in sight. Everything was silent.

…

As the Doctor made his way to the backroom of the church, he found Pete checking a door was properly secured as the time lord when to the window to look out. Urgently, Pete moved to his side.

'There's smoke coming up from the city but no sirens. I - I don't think it's just us, I think these things are all over the place. Maybe the whole world' he said, sounding scarred. But the Doctor really didn't have time to reassure him, plus what could he say? They were everywhere in the universe, whole races of creatures were already being devoured, and he could do nothing to stop it!

He stared solemnly out the window, jumping slightly as a car moved into view. He frowned even more when he realised that he recognised said car. It was the car that was supposed to have killed Pete earlier. He watched as it rounded the corner before it vanished into thin air. What the hell?

'Was that a car?' Pete asked curiously. Oh… of course! The only way to fix this would be to sacrifice Pete, but Rose… and Craig… No, he'd just have to find another way!

'It's not important. Don't worry about it' he swiftly answered Pete, before leaving. He had to think of another way to stop this, or anyway to stop this, without sacrificing his best friends' dad. He might have been meant to be killed, but he was still their father, and no matter what Rose had done, he was not going to be responsible for killing him, not ever!

…

Rose was sitting alone. Once Craig had left, that's when her tears had fallen. This was such a mess, and it was all her fault! She got so many people killed! Eaten by the things outside! And all because she hadn't followed a simply stupid bloody plan!

She wiped at her eyes as Pete came into the room, his hands in his pocket, a confused look on his face. He stood right in front of her before he sat before her.

'This mate of yours... what do you mean, this is your fault?' he asked softly.

'Dunno... just... everything' she sighed tearfully.

'I gave you my car keys' Pete noted aloud, and Rose just stared at him.

'You don't give your keys to a complete stranger' he elaborated, but still looking confused, probably by his own actions.

'It's... it's like I trusted you. Moment I met you, I just did' he stated and Rose felt slightly fear rise up in her stomach. He was on his way to working it out! But should she stop him…?

A wound in time…' he trailed off thoughtfully.

'You called me Dad. I can see it... my eyes... Jackie's attitude... you sound like her when you shout…' he said as the pieces fell in place. He slowly reached out and cupped her face tentatively. Rose closed her eyes, all her life she'd dreamt of her father, and here he was, about to discover she was his daughter! And although it was wrong, and although it had caused the end of the world, killed many innocent people, she just could not help but feeling a flicker of fantastic hope well up inside her.

'You are. You are... you're my Rose. You're my Rose grown up' he choked out as he figured it out. He throw his arms around her and she clung to him desperately. And although she'd tried to fight them, her tears now fell freely.

'Dad. my Dad. My Daddy...' she whispered into his back as he gently rocked her back and forth.

…

The Doctor was nearly done making sure that every possible method of entry into the church had been closed off now. He was busy checking a door when the bride and groom, Sarah and Stuart, approached him from behind.

'Excuse me! Mr...' Stuart started.

'Doctor' he cut him off, now even looking back at him.

'You seem to know what's going on' Stuart noted aloud.

'I give that impression, yeah' he shrugged as he examined the lock.

'I just wanted to ask…' Stuart started before Sarah cut him off.

'Can you save us?' she asked pleadingly. And it was these words that finally caught the Doctor's attention. He turned to look at her, and turned his sonic screwdriver off, which he'd been sealing the lock with. He walked towards them, observing them both.

'Who are you two, then?' he asked. He knew their names, but what was in a name? They didn't tell you anything.

'Stuart Hoskins' Stuart stated.

'Sarah Clarke' Sarah echoed with. He noted she had a bump on her lower stomach and smiled slightly.

'And one extra. Boy or girl?' he asked with a nod of his head in the bump's direction.

'I don't know. I don't want to know, really' Sarah replied, softly running a hand over her belly affectionately.

'How did all this get started?' he asked, causing Sarah to glance at her fiancé.

'Outside the Beep Box Club. Two in the morning' Stuart smiled fondly down at her.

'Street corner. I'd lost my purse. Didn't have money for a taxi' Sarah added.

'I took her home' Stuart supplied.

'Then what? Asked her for a date?' the Doctor asked in intrigue. That was so… human!

'Wrote his number on the back of my hand' Sarah nodded, holding up said hand.

'Never got rid of her since. My dad said…' Stuart trailed off, and Sarah looked at him sympathetically, her lip trembling. Just then, one of the creatures from outside shrieked loudly, and they all looked towards the source of the noise uneasily.

'I don't know what this is all about. And I know WE'RE not important…' Sarah trailed of teary, shocking the Doctor greatly.

'Who said you're not important?' he asked. Everyone was important, each and every single being in the universe had so much potential, they were ALL special.

'I've travelled to all sorts of places. Done things you couldn't even imagine, but... you two... street corner. Two in the morning. Getting a taxi home. I've never had a life like that. Yes' he smiled, whilst they both looked at him in confuse for his last word.

'I'll try and save you' he elaborated. Sarah smiled back at him through her tears. Just at that moment, Craig approached them, and sensing this was to be a private conversation, Sarah and Stuart moved away to talk with the other guests.

'So… what are those things anyway?' he asked quietly, holding his arms to his chest.

'Well, if I had to give them a name I'd call them Reapers' the Doctor shrugged.

'And what are those?' Craig asked.

'They feed on damaged time; when time's wounded they clean it up by consuming all living matter inside the vortex. And nothing in the universe can stop them' the Doctor replied solemnly.

'You know, I've seen you do some pretty amazing things, but this is different isn't it, you don't have a magic way out of this do you?' the blonde asked sadly, but the hope that he was wrong was undeniably in his voice. With a hard look, the Doctor shook his head, and Craig let out a deflated sigh.

Suddenly a wave of dizziness hit him and he staggered slightly. The air in his lungs seemed to freeze, his breathing becoming laboured. His stomach felt like a hand was twisting it and holding it in a contorted position. His skin instantly became ghostly pale, his brow sweating slightly like he had a fever. And how it hurt! It was agony!

'Oh my god!' he whimpered as the feeling intensified, and he hunched over in pain.

'What is it, what's wrong?' the Doctor asked in panic, rubbing his back. His Craig was in pain, but he had no idea why!

'Oh god!' Craig cried in pain, before running from the room, clutching his stomach tightly.

'CRAIG!' the Doctor yelled after him as the blonde headed for the loos, no doubt to be sick in.

…

Rose was sitting in a side room, Pete just across from her. Her tears had stemmed now and dried, but she was still a little sniffy.

'I'm a dad. I mean, I'm already a dad, but... Rose grows up, and she's you. And the blonde, your brother, that's my little Craig. It's the both of you, all grown up. That's wonderful. I suppose I thought that you'd both be a bit - useless - what, with my useless genes and all, but...' he trailed off with a smile as Rose laughed lightly. He watched her with absolute fascination.

'How did you get here?' he asked curiously. Rose bit her lip, should she really tell him it all?

'Do you really wanna know?' she decided to go with a bit of the truth for now, and leaving out some of the more painful parts.

'Yeah!' he nodded enthusiastically.

'A time machine' she smiled. There was a stunned pause before he replied.

'Time machine' he asked in a daze sort of voice moments later.

'Cross my heart' she smiled, causing her dad to smile too.

'What, do they all have time machines where you come from?' he asked his tone close to laughter.

'Nah, just the Doctor' she shook her head.

'Did you know these things were coming?' he asked quietly, the things he referred to being obvious.

'No' she shook her head once more.

'God, I dunno, my head's spinning' he admitted in an incredulous tone.

'What's the future like?' he asked when Rose didn't reply.

'It's not so different' she shrugged.

'What am I like? Have I gone grey?' he laughed, but when she didn't answer his smile faded ever so slightly.

'Have I gone bald? Don't tell me I've gone bald' he joked, but Rose still didn't answer, so he decided to change the subject.

'So, if this mate of yours isn't your boyfriend - and I have to say, I'm glad because being your dad and all, I think he's a bit old for you...' he stated, and that got her laughing.

'Have you got a bloke?' he asked once she giggles subsided.

'No, I did have…' she trailed off, thinking of Mickey, and how badly things had ended up between them. If given another chance, she'd have done things a lot differently.

Pete opened his mouth once more, no doubt to ask another question, when a loud yelled cut through the silence.

'CRAIG!' the Doctor yelled, and in fear for her brother Rose leapt to her feet and ran towards the source of the noise, an equally concerned Pete just behind her. They burst into the main room to see the Doctor on the other side, struggling against a door.

'Craig let me in!' he yelled.

'What's happened now?' Rose demanded as she reached his side, Pete hovering over her shoulder.

'I don't know, one minute we were talking, the next he looks ready to drop down dead on the spot' he said frantically as he pushed against the door Craig had slammed behind him. Pete and Rose both pushed against it too, and moments later their combined strength proved too much for the door as they forced it open. In one of the cubicles, on his hands and knees, hurling his stomach out, was a deathly pale Craig, clutching his stomach as he vomited.

'Craig, what is it, where does it hurt?' Rose asked softly as she rubbed his back. He tried to open his mouth to answer, but he just hurled again, only this time, blood was mixed in with it.

'Doctor… help me' he breathed out in a weak and pleading voice.

'Shush, shush, you're gonna be ok' the Doctor soothed as he and Rose gently pulled the sick man away from the toilet and lowered him to the floor before they turned him onto his back. God he looked dreadful, he had huge bags under his eyes and his mouth and fingertips were turning a sort of blue colour. But what the hell could have triggered such a rapid digression of health?!

'AH, my stomach' he whimpered as he clutched at it, wriggling in pain. The Doctor gently lifted his hands to see his stomach, and his eye's widened. It was fading away! In a golden haze, Craig Tyler's stomach was fading out of existence before his very eyes!

'Oh my god' Pete whispered as he watched the scene before him.

'What is that, what the hell's happening to him?' Rose asked fearfully as she clutched at Craig's hand, trying to comfort him. The Doctor frowned for a moment, before it slipped into a look of sheer misery as he figured out the root of the problem.

'His time's gone' he whispered mournfully.

'What do ya mean?' Rose wanted to know. Craig's legs and arms were beginning to fade now, as was his chest.

'The 1987 Craig, the one year old version. He must have been consumed by the Reapers, and without him the twenty year old Craig Tyler never happens' he whispered as he gently took the other fading hand in his, holding it under his chin as he looked down into the dying face of his best friend.

'Oh god I'm so sorry' Rose sobbed as her tears returned in force, dropping down and going straight through her big brother. She couldn't believe this; she'd made her own brother start fading! Pete was instantly by her side, stroking her hair whilst his other hand curved around his son's head, the son he wasn't going to get to know now.

'Not… you… fault' Craig panted out before he faded away completely into specks of golden dust, and all that was left before them was an empty gap. Rose broke down instantly and was soon wrapped up in a hug by Pete, whilst the Doctor silently looked at the place Craig's face had been. He was completely oblivious to the world around him. It couldn't be true, not Craig, not the man he was like his little brother. NO! He would not lose anybody else, he'd lost too much already, and there was no way he was going to let Craig Tyler suffer a fate like that, completely unwritten, none at all!

'Come on' he said in a hard voice to Rose, holding out a hand. He led her and Pete back into the main room, a new air of determination about him.

…

When they left the toilet back into the main room, the Doctor had immediately ran into Jackie, who had asked him to look after Rose for a few minutes whilst she talked with Sarah, Bev, and Suzie. The Doctor hadn't had the chance to refuse before she walked away, but he couldn't help but laugh at the irony of him trusting her with Rose now, but not when she was an adult.

'Now, Rose... you're not gonna bring about the end of the world, are you? Are you?' he said to the infant in the carry-tot before him. The baby Rose just stared up innocently at him, just as the adult version of her joined them, and the Doctor glanced at her.

'Jackie gave her to me to look after. How times change' he commented.

'Where is he Doctor, where's Craig been sent?' she asked tearfully as he sighed.

'Outside the vortex, with all the others' he said steely.

'God this is such a mess' she whispered, just as she reached out towards her younger self. She jumped slightly as the Doctor quickly caught her arm and pushed it back.

'No. Don't touch the baby' he ordered and Rose stared at him in confusion.

'You're both the same person and that's a paradox, and we don't want a paradox happening. Not with these things outside. Anything new, any disturbance in time makes them stronger. The paradox might let them in' he explained in an almost cold voice. In fact, Rose could barely believe it was being directed at her, but then again, there were many things about this day she could hardly believe.

'Can't do anything right, can I?' she sighed.

'Since you ask, no. So, Don't. Touch. The. Baby' he spat, as though talking to some half-wit.

'I'm. Not. Stupid' she growled back, eyes narrowed.

'You could've fooled me' he countered with. She looked away from him, clearly stung by his words and her own guilt. He sighed, his anger fading down again slightly.

'All right. I'm sorry' he said softly, and she looked back at him.

'I wasn't really gonna leave you and Craig here' he said tenderly.

'I know' she nodded slightly.

'But between you and me, I haven't got a plan. No idea. No way out' he admitted.

'You'll think of something. Craig's counting on it' she said encouragingly.

'The entire Earth is being sterilised. This, and other place like it, are all that's left of the human race. We might hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures' he shook his head, watching the shadows moving across the windows in a huge circle.

'They'll get through in the end. The walls aren't that old. And there's nothing I can do to stop them. There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening - my people would have stopped this. But they're all gone. And now I'm going the same way' he trailed of mournfully.

'I didn't know… I didn't know this would have happened, that Craig would have disappeared. If I'd realised…' she trailed of miserably. Her stomach clenched, but not in pain, but with guilt. She'd killed her own brother! As if everyone else on the planet wasn't bad enough, why'd that had to happen to Craig?! She'd never forgive herself for this, never!

'Just... tell me you're sorry' he said, looking her in the eyes. He knew that she undoubtedly was, even before Craig had faded, but he still needed to hear it from her mouth, he still needed to be sure she truly regretted breaking his trust.

'I am. I'm so, so sorry. I'm so sorry I shattered the trust of the most important man placed in me' she nodded, holding his gaze. And she was, she was truly and utterly sorry, for him, and for her big bro, and everybody who had been painfully consumed. He looked at her beautiful face for a moment longer, before he grinned widely and pulled her into a comforting embrace, which she return with equal vigour. But then suddenly she leapt back as if badly burnt.

'Ouch, have you got something hot?' she asked as she began digging into his inside chest pocket. He looked down curiously, before there was a slight sizzling sound and she dropped something with a gasp. They looked down to see her Tardis key, and it was glowing brightly.

'It's the TARDIS key!' he beamed as he shrugged his jacket off, and kneeling down he used it to pick the hot key up.

'It's telling me it's still connected to the TARDIS!' he explained for Rose's benefit.

'And what does that mean?' she asked with a smile, amazed at just how much hope seeing her Doctor grinning like that filled her with.

'It means we can get Craig back' he beamed as he raced up the stand at the front of the room, calling out to get all the guests' attention, holding up the key so they could see it.

'The inside of my ship was thrown out of a wound but we can use THIS to bring it back. And once I've got my ship back, then I can mend everything, back all those people back. Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?' he asked.

'This one big enough?' Stuart asked after a few seconds silence, holding up that huge brick of a mobile phone. Hurrying over to him, the Doctor took it from his hands.

'Fantastic' he grinned.

'Good old dad' Stuart commented as the Doctor removed the battery from it.

'Just need to do a bit of charging up…' he muttered as he pressed his sonic screwdriver against the battery.

'And then we can bring everyone back' he grinned. He was going to get Craig back, and then he'd make sure nothing took his friend from him like that ever again. And that was truly fantastic!

…

Whilst the Doctor set to work on dragging the Tardis back to them, Rose had been led by Pete to the back of the church, sitting in the last few rows of seats.

'So, my son's gone? Both of them?' Pete asked, heartbrokenly. Rose let out a sighed as she nodded.

'God he must have been terrified' he whispered as tears lined his eyes. Rose took his hands in hers.

'Once the Doctor fixes this it won't have happened, the adult Craig and the baby Craig will both be brought back and everything bad that happened will be undone' she said with certainty. Pete nodded sadly but also hopefully as her words washed over him.

'You, um... you never said why you came here in the first place. If I had a time machine, I wouldn't have thought 1987 was anything special. Not round here, anyway' he deliberately tried to change the conversation, a hint Rose picked up on.

'We just ended up here' she shrugged. She could hardly tell him the truth after all!

'Lucky for me, eh? If you hadn't been there to save me…' he trailed off, a dawning look on his face. A look she knew she had to get rid of.

'That was just a co-incidence. That was just… REALLY good luck. It's amazing…' she said, hoping to throw him off the scent, but judging by the look he was giving her, something told her this plan had failed. He was almost certainly working it out for himself.

'So, in the future, are me and her indoors still together?' he asked, jerking his head in the direction of Jackie.

'Yeah' she nodded wearily.

'And are you and Craig still living with us?' he asked, sounding hopeful.

'Yep!' she nodded happily. He nodded and smiled, before he looked at her strangely, like he wanted to ask more but was slightly afraid too.

'Am I a good dad?' he asked, some fear lining his voice. And how that question broke her heart. She couldn't tell him, she couldn't dash that hope. No, she'd have to lie; she'd tell him how things might have gone.

'You... you told me and Craig a bedtime story every night when we were small. You were always there... you never missed one' she smiled, doing her best to look like she was reminiscing of happy times which never occurred.

'And um… you took us for picnics in the country every Saturday. You never let us down. You were there for us all the time' she carried on whilst he listened intently.

'Someone we could really rely on' she finished, and silence fell between them.

'That's not me' he shook his head sadly, and her heart plummeted. She wished she'd never asked to come here. Craig and the Doctor were right, it had been better not knowing! Suddenly several of the guests exclaimed in surprize, and turning to see the source, she broke into the grin. The key was floating in mid-air, and around it in the same golden light which had stolen Craig from her, the Tardis was beginning to appear. Her stomach clenched again as she thought of Craig, how was she ever going to let him know just how sorry she was?!

'Right, no-one touches that key. Have you got that? Don't touch it. Anyone touches that key, it'll be - well - ZAP. Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We'll get out of here. All of us. Stuart, Sarah, you're gonna get married, just like I said. Rose, we're gonna get our Craig back' he beamed over at her, and she returned it with a watery smile.

…

The TARDIS was certainly materialising, but it was also taking it's time. But then again, it must be a hard process dragging itself back into existence. Everyone was scattered around in seats now, waiting for it to fully reappear. The Doctor and Rose were side by side, their hands interlaced, near the back of the room. Pete was sitting on the row behind them, whilst several rows in front was Jackie, throwing them all a suspicious glance over her shoulder, baby Rose in her arms.

'When time gets sorted out…' Rose started off to break the much too thick silence which had been surrounding them for the past few minutes.

'Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry, the thing that you changed will stay changed' he said in a hard but reassuring voice.

'You mean I'll still be alive' Pete said, clearly having figured it out. They both turned around to face him.

'Though I'm meant to be dead' he said steely.

'That's why I haven't done anything with my life. Why I didn't MEAN anything' he said softly, like he really believed that.

'It doesn't work like that' the Doctor told him sternly. After all, the most ordinary people in the universe could save the whole if reality if they truly wanted too.

'Rubbish. I'm so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all of this has happened' he sighed. Rose swiftly reached over a put her hand on his arm. This was all her fault, and her's alone. She wasn't going to have anybody else blaming themselves for the mess she had created.

'This is MY fault' she said firmly.

'No, love. I'm your dad. It's my job for it to be my fault' Pete told her, just as firmly and with a small sad smile. Suddenly Jackie was next to them, and had her every word her husband had just said.

'Her dad? How are you her dad?' she asked and Pete nervously looked up at her. But then it seemed Jackie had reached her own conclusion, a wrong one at that.

'How old were you, twelve? Oh, that's DISGUSTING' she stated, repulsion lining her tone. The Doctor rolled his eyes as he moved away slightly, getting to his feet. He could SO have done NOT hearing THAT.

'Jacks - listen. This is Rose' Pete said as he stood up, hoping his wife would understand. But she just looked upset and angry, and when she opened her mouth, her voice was low and distressed.

'Rose? How sick is that? You give my daughter a second hand name? How many are there? Do you call them ALL Rose? And the boys, are they ALL called Craig?' she demanded, her imagination working overdrive and apparently greatly annoying Pete.

'Oh, for God's sake, look! It's the SAME Rose!' he cried exasperatedly. He plucked his baby daughter out of Jackie's arms before placing her in the adult Rose's. The Doctor started forwards but it was already too late.

'Rose! No!' he yelled, pulling the baby Rose from the older Rose's arms, but the damage had already been done. Another paradox had been created, and exactly as he predicted, right in the middle of the church above them, formed a Reaper.

It was total chaos. The guests were running in terror as the bacterial creature glowered down at them all.

'Everyone! Behind me!' the Doctor ordered, and it seemed nobody needing telling twice, for moments later, everybody in the room had gathered behind him. The Reaper chirped menacingly as it spread it wings. The Doctor took a few small steps forward, looking up at it.

'I'm the oldest thing in here' he called up to the scaled creature. It let out a ghostly shriek, and not even a second later it was bearing down on him.

'DOCTOR!' Rose screamed in terror. She started forwards, but there was nothing she could do. She was forced to watch in complete horror as another of the people that meant the most to her was stolen, and the Doctor was consumed. Instantly the guests began screaming and fleeing across the room, the reaper circling after them. It tried to chase them through the semi-corporeal Tardis, but the moment the time machine and the parasite made contact, it and the Reaper both faded away, and the key fell to the floor, its glow extinguished.

There was complete silence for a few seconds before she sprinted forwards and knelt down to pick up the key. It was like ice in her hands.

'Cold. The key's cold' she said, not quite believing it. Without the key, they couldn't bring the Tardis back, and without the Tardis, there was nothing she could do to save the Doctor or Craig. She was so lost in this terrible realisation that she didn't notice Pete cautiously approaching her from behind.

'Oh, my God, he's dead. The Doctor and Craig are both really dead' she whispered, her tears starting to flow.

'It's all my fault… all of you… both of them… the whole world…' she whimpered as the full impact hit her. Oh god! She'd killed everything! Craig, the Doctor, the Tardis, everybody else on Earth and probably every other planet! Oh god! She'd destroyed everyone and everything!

She stood numbly as Pete wrapped his arms around her, as the light dimmed dark, a cloud having passed over the sun.

'This is it. There's nothing we can do. It's the end' she heard Bev whispered from somewhere to her left. And her Mum's old friend was right. It WAS the end. And it was all because of her own stupid selfish actions. She'd got Craig and the Doctor killed, and even if she lived, she would never forgive herself, never. And right now living wasn't even on her mind; she just wanted to be back in her brother and friend's arms like she should be, even if that meant joining them in the arms of death.

**...**

**And that's another one : ) So yeah, Craig and the Doctor have both gone, and Rose is left with all that guilt! Why would I do that to her you may be wondering. The answer is simple. I loved this episode so much, because it was Rose's episode. People often say that Craig sometime's steals Rose's thunder which I honestly don't mean to do, so I kinda wanted him out of the way so this episode stayed all about Rose. So yeah, I bet she feels a little guilty now that her own brother has been erased because of her : ) Please review all thoughts and ideas, because I'm working on some ideas for the sequel to this now. I've gotta say, I really think you're gonna love some of them ; )**


	60. Father's Day, Apologies

**Last part of my favourite episode : ) Not much to say other than I hope you enjoy it, and that Doctor Who isn't mine but Craig Tyler is : ) Read on at your own risk, because today is the day for the Fathers...**

**...**

**Father's Day – Apologies**

Rose had moved away from all the other guests, wanting to be alone in those final moments. There was nothing she could do now to help anyone, and it was all her own doing. She was thinking back to the beginning of the day. She had thought that the whole wide world would be better with Pete Tyler in it, but it wasn't, in fact, it had become so much worse. Because saving him, a man who she barely knew, had cost her the man who had always been there for her and the man she had just began to love.

She glanced up as Pete approached her, carrying his jacket over his arm. She quickly wiped her tears away.

'The Doctor really cared about you. And Craig did. I'm so glad that my baby boy loves his little sister so much' he stated, and Rose remained silent

'But the Doctor, he didn't want you to go through it again if there was another way. Now there isn't' he said with certainty, but Rose had no idea what he meant. She rose to her feet, looking him squarely in the eye.

'What're you talking about?' she asked in a soft voice. Pete began to put his jacket on before he answered her, just as softly.

'The car that should've killed me, love. It's here. The Doctor worked it out way back, but he, err… he tried to protect me' Pete whispered. Rose's eyes began to fill with tears again. Oh her Doctor… even after she'd betrayed his trust, he still was willing to do anything to make her happy, even alter history. She knew in the moment, she would do anything for him too, always.

'Still… he's not in charge anymore. I am' Pete stated firmly but gently.

'But you can't…' Rose's voice cracked as she realised what he was saying, what he was about to do. Pete soothed her by reaching out and stroking her face.

'Who am I, love?' he asked with a smile sad smile.

'My Daddy' she sobbed, just as Jackie approached them. She was looking at Rose with very wide eyes.

'Jackie… look at her. She's ours' Pete smiled down at his wife. Jackie looked between the two of them, and it was clear that after a moment, she made the connection between herself and the adult Rose, and she knew that they were most definitely mother and daughter.

'Oh, God…' she whispered as she wrapped Rose in a hug, with she returned tearfully. When they broke apart, Jackie looked up at Pete.

'I'm meant to be dead, Jackie. You're gonna get rid of me at last' he tried to joke, but it came out rather weakly.

'Don't say that' Jackie said, barely holding back her own tears.

'For once in your life, trust me. It's got be done. You've got to survive, because you've got to bring up our children, our Rose and Craig' he said softly, gesturing at Rose, before he pulled Jackie in for one last kiss. After the moment was over, he turned back to Rose.

'I never read you or Craig those bedtime stories. I never took you on those picnics. I was never there for either of you' he said sadly, clearly regretting that and wishing he could change it, but he knew he couldn't. And that set Rose off crying again.

'You would've been' she sobbed through her tears.

'But I can do this for you. I can be a proper dad to you now, save you, and bring my son back' he smiled down at her.

'But it's not fair' Rose choked out.

'I've had all these extra hours. No one else in the world has ever had that. And on top of that… I got to see you, the both of you. And you're both wonderful' he smiled as placed his hand on her face again.

'How lucky am I, eh? To have such brave, wonderful and amazing kids? So, come on… do as your dad says' he smiled encouragingly at her, both still looking quite scared himself. With her tears slowly falling, and without looking at him, Rose bent down and picked up the vase he had been buying earlier that day before this whole mess had begun. She handed it over.

'I love you sweetheart, and when he comes back, tell Craig I loved him too' he asked her pleadingly and she quickly nodded.

'Are you going to be there for me, love?' he asked, and again she nodded silently. He put his hand on her shoulder one last time, looking into her eyes wistfully.

'Thanks for saving me' he whispered as he pulled her and Jackie into a tight embrace.

When they broke apart several minutes later, Pete trembled slightly as he made his way over to the door. He smiled sadly at Rose before he pushed them open and ran out into the street. Rose quickly moved over to the doors and looked out.

The Reapers were still clamouring outside the church and floating in the sky as she watched Pete run down the path and into the road. He looked up, and following his line of vision Rose saw one of the Reapers beginning to bare down on him. But he ran up the street, and poking her head out to see, Rose saw the car, that wretched car, appear out of thin air and drive towards him. Even though she couldn't hear him, she was sure that he said something before the driver covered his eyes with his arm, and Rose scrunched her own eyes shut. She heard the sickening thud and the vase smashing, followed by the shrieking of the Reapers. Her tears began falling again as she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder, and opening her eyes, they widened when she saw the Doctor was back. Turning when she felt a hand slip into her others, she very nearly smiled when she saw that Craig had also returned.

'Go to him. Quick' the Doctor whispered, and with Craig gently guiding her along, the Tylers ran to the dying man in the road, kneeling down beside him.

Craig knelt over his head and placed a kiss on his forehead as Pete looked up at him.

'Goodbye' he whispered, before moving back slightly to give Rose some room.

She held his hand and looked down into his eyes, which seemed to hold a small sense of recognition in them, before the life slowly faded from them and they closed, and Pete Tyler took his last breath.

In the back of their minds, both Rose and Craig felt their memories changing ever so slightly.

_'The driver was just a kid' Jackie was saying to them when they were seven and six. They were sitting on Jackie's bed, the photo album shared between them._

_'He stopped. He waited for the police. It wasn't his fault. For some reason, Pete just ran out. People say there were two people there. A man and a girl, both with blonde hair. And they sat with Pete while he was dying. They held his hands. Then they were gone, with this magical sound. Like angels. I never found out who they were' she said softly, and although it was obvious that she wished she had been the one there, it was also equally obvious that she was glad somebody had been there for her husband when he needed it the most._

Rose placed a small kiss on their father's head, before she stood up and linking arms with Craig; she rested her head against his shoulder before the Doctor joined them. He took her hand, and led the two of them away from the adventure any of them were unlikely to ever forget.

…

No sooner had the Doctor silently shut the door to the Tardis behind them had Rose practically fled to her room, tears spilling down her cheeks. Craig took a few steps after her when he stopped and changed his mind, deciding to let her be by herself for now and go comfort her in a few minutes. He leant back against the console, which hummed at his touch. His was looking down, but he sensed the Doctor coming and standing next to him, gently placing his hand over his.

'What do we do now?' Craig asked almost silently, his voice emotionless. The Doctor looked down at him in surprize, surely Craig wasn't think what he dreaded he was thinking.

'What do ya mean' the Doctor asked sounding hurt.

'I mean, where too now' Craig repeated, not looking at the Doctor. If he had, maybe he'd have seen the relieved look on his face. Clearly the Doctor he thought he had wanted to leave.

'Somewhere fun, enjoyable'

'…Yeah' Craig slowly nodded, looking straight ahead. Sighing, the Doctor pulled him into a hug, holding his friend tightly.

'I'm so sorry… I should never have taken you there' the Doctor whispered in his ear.

'Not your fault, not anyone's' Craig said softly, but still staring straight ahead over the Doctor's shoulder. they just stayed there, hugging their best friend tightly.

'What was it like, to be unwritten?' the Doctor asked after a few tense moments.

'I don't know, I can't really remember' Craig shrugged. It was lucky that the Doctor wasn't looking at him, or the time lord might have seen the guilty look on Craig's face. Because he remembered what and where he had gone perfectly, and he didn't exactly what to share that memory quite yet.

…

_In a tunnel of red and blue energy, the vortex of time itself, a golden haze of light appeared. Although it didn't take a shape, the golden haze was a living mind and body, and with a body came eyes. It was looking out into the vortex._

_'What… where' Craig Tyler's voice said weakly. Around his mind, voices and visions flickered like a collection of faded movie clips. But they weren't memories; they were just events, events that had yet to take place._

_'I'm coming to get you'_

_'You are the weakest link, goodbye'_

_'It'll make wonderful scrape'_

_'Worship him, worship him'_

_'I AM Immortal!'_

_'The sun and the moon, the day and night'_

_'I save him from himself, by rewriting him completely'_

_'See ya in hell'_

_'Craig, you are worth every single star in the sky. I… I love you'_

_'I reached into the dirt and made new life'_

_'I bring life'_

_'But this is wrong'_

_They all poured into the consciousness of Craig Tyler, which expanded and exploded to compensate the power being poured through it, before it passed through him and his mind returned to normal, just as he was being dragged back into the realms of reality. His eyes flew open, and he was standing at the back of a church, and poking her head out the doors was his baby sister._

_…_

Craig shuddered slightly as he thought about it. That was all he could remember. He couldn't remember seeing anything, or knowing any dates or anything particularly useful to know for the future, all he could remember was echoes of voices he couldn't make out, and they too were fading from his mind. And despite the fact that every instinct he had in him told him he shouldn't have been able to survive knowing _anything_ from inside the vortex, he had to push past all this though, Rose needed him to comfort her, and he needed her now!

'Anyway, come on' Craig said as he broke the hug, wiping a few sparkling tears from the corners of his eyes. The Doctor just looked at him in confusion.

'Rose. She needs to know if you're still mad or not' Craig throw the doctor a pointed look.

'And you be gentle or I might just make you want to be unwritten' he attempted to joke, but it came out pitifully. The Doctor took his hand and led the way down the corridors to Rose's room. They tentatively knocked on the door, and after a few moments, they went inside.

They found Rose lying face down on her bed, shaking as tears cascaded onto her pillow. Within seconds, Craig was seated beside her; gently rubbing her back as she tears fell. The Doctor awkwardly hovered in the doorway for a few minutes until Rose pulled herself together enough to be able to speak. She forced herself to sit upright, but after about three seconds she collapsed into Craig's arm, straining his hoodie with salty tears, she arms wrapped around his neck.

'Sssh, everything's gonna be ok, I promise' Craig whispered to her.

'Craig…. I'm so… so… I'm so sorry' she managed to choke out, trying hard to gain control over her breathing.

'Hush now, I don't blame you' Craig said to comfort her. And despite the fact that it was actually her fault that he had suffered in that way, he thought no different of her. Because he understood perfectly why she had done it, and what she had learnt from it.

'I… I… I… Killed… you' she sobbed even harder.

'No you didn't' Craig countered, trying to make it sound like nothing bad had happened at all.

'Yes… I did' she cried at, pain lining her tone.

'Yeah… well I'm sorry too. Sorry that I let that happen. I knew it was a bad idea from the off and I should have put a stop to it right from the start' Craig told her gently, cupping her face and making her look him in the eye.

'No. that should have been my job. I knew the dangers, the temptation; I should never have taken you back through your own time stream. I only did because it was you. If it had been any other companion…' the Doctor trailed off looking away from them.

'Doctor… I'm so sorry… sorry I betrayed you. I swear… never again' she choked out as she wiped her tears away, looking him dead in the eye. He nodded slightly, before he smiled at her. She grinned back and stood up, holding out her arms for a hug. And soon enough, the two of them were hugging, but it was a long time before they broke apart.

'So then, where too now?' the Doctor asked.

'Ooh… Somewhere fun' Craig said softly.

'Good idea' Rose whispered as she sat back on her bed. And moments later, she had fallen asleep. Smiling, Craig kissed her on the forehead, before him and the Doctor both left her room, each man heading back to their own for the night. One thing was certain; none of them were ever going to forget that day.

**...**

**And that's Father's Day! Yeah! I am official half-way through this now, and hope to start on season 2 by the end of the year, hopefully ; ) no guaranties of course but thats the plan. Anyway, the next story is going to be one of my own called 'The Darkest Knight' and no, I don't mean Batman. I didn't even make the connection until a few days ago : ) Anyway, massive spoiler for you as a treat. In it we will meet someone very important from Craig's past, someone who's a little bit welsh : ) Oh, and there's a story set directly after this in the other story, where the Doctor takes Rose and Craig on Safari, so please go check out that! Read on faithful readers ; )**


	61. The Darkest Knight, Mark Stevenson

**Hi guys! Right, I know you're all anxious to get to Jack, but don't worry, we're nearly there. There's just this story and one more to get through and than the Captain is in : ) So 8 more chapters till Jack. Now this adventure is a little special before it's our first real insight into Craig's Past, so a bit of character history will come to light here : ) I really don't like it when authors introduce a companion to the Doctor but don't think of anything to be their lives before they met the Doctor, so I try to think of ones for my OC main companions. Anyway, without further ado, here's the first part of 'The Darkest Knight'. Please note that Doctor who isn't mine, but Craig Tyler, and this episode are : ) Enjoy!**

**...**

**The Darkest Knight**

**The Darkest Knight – Mark Stevenson**

Craig laughed loudly at the scene unfolding before him. He was standing in the fruit and vegetable section of a large Tesco's, in London and in their relative timeline, and was watching Rose telling a pouting Doctor off.

'Stop your moaning! I've seen five year olds causing less of a fuss' Rose shot at the Doctor, hands on her hips and an un-amused look on her face. She was wearing a blue jumper that was a little tight, not that the Doctor was complaining, and a black skirt, knee length blue leathery boots, and her hair was tied in two bunches.

She had absolutely insisted that the Doctor took them to present day earth so that they could go shopping, but the Doctor wasn't making it easy. He kept grumbling, knocking things over, walking into people, being rude to the shop workers, and generally just being loud, causing Rose to look very embarrassed and murderous, and Craig to roar with laughter at his antics.

'I will not stop moaning, we've been in here for over an hour!' the Doctor cried. He was wearing a dark red jumper under his leather jacket today, as well as his usual black trousers. He kept bouncing on the balls of his feet and fidgeting, a very unusual sight for Craig and Rose.

'It's only been twenty minutes!' Craig laughed. He was wearing a short blue jacket with a black t-shirt underneath, and a pair of rusty red coloured trousers over his black trainers. He smirked as Rose and the Doctor turned to face him.

'It feels like weeks' the Doctor pouted, looking remarkable like a toddler in the process.

'You're telling me! This is beyond humiliation!' Rose cried in despair.

'Well you made me bring you here, I didn't want to come!' the Doctor reminded her.

'Oh, and what else should we have done, starve to death?' Rose asked sarcastically.

'You know, if you both stopped bickering and helped each other, both your problems would be solved a lot sooner' Craig observed. The Doctor glared at him slightly.

'I refuse to let myself act like a domestic human! I am a Time Lord, Time Lords didn't evolve into, quite frankly fantastically intelligent beings, to do something so trivial as go shopping!' the Doctor declared, earning him more funny looks from the other shoppers around them. Rose's face reddened even more from embarrassment.

'Well even Time Lords have to eat' Craig pointed out cockily.

'No, I'm sorry but that's it! I can't take any more embarrassment at his hand. Doctor, go wait outside. Craig and I will do the shopping!' Rose finally gave in, if only to save herself from this humiliation progressing any further.

'Thank you, Thank you Rose Tyler!' the Doctor cried dramatically, like she had literally just saved his life, enveloping her in a hug, and actually lifting her off the ground and spinning her round.

'Aw… no fair, why does he get out of it and I don't?' Craig pretended to pull a childlike pout, but it was clear that he didn't actually want to leave; he just wanted to wind his little sister up just a little bit further. The Doctor hastily supressed a chuckle as Rose's glare turned on her brother.

'Do. Not. Even. Start. Craig. Tyler!' she growled at him through gritted teeth. The Doctor just laughed at their antics.

'I'll be outside, see you later' he waved cheerfully, as he finally managed to get out of that insane human shop! And so he left the two Tylers to do their shopping, hopefully before he died of old age, which for a time lord would be a very impressive achievement.

…

The Doctor walked out of the Tesco and paced around outside the entrance, checking his watch every few moments. He was bored, and he wasn't used to it nor did he care for it. He looked at the street around him, brightly coloured cars passing him, people walking dogs, aeroplanes and birds flying overhead. He vaguely wondered how they could stand living a… domestic and normal life like that. He scowled slightly as he watched an old man across the street fold up a newspaper and just leave it on the bench he was sitting on. There was a bin not two feet from him! It was people like him that caused planets to become polluted.

Shaking his head at the man as he walked away, the Doctor walked across the road and picked the newspaper up off the bench, ready to throw it away before a thought hit him. Rose and Craig were likely to be a while, and he had nothing else to do, so with that in mind, the Doctor sat down and began to read the paper.

It was amazing at how trivial human beings were. The front page was about a celebrity marrying a footballer. World class new the Doctor would bet. Sighing, he flicked through the rest of the paper, trying to find something of interest. He was about to give up, when his eyes flickered down to the bottom of a page.

It was a sub article, and it actually caught his interest, well… somewhat at least.

There was photograph of a slimy monster with its claws raised high, and the headline read;

'Grand Opening of the London Museum of Paranormal Crimes'

The Doctor blinked in confusion. Paranormal crimes? What in the universe would stupid apes know about 'Paranormal Crimes'?! wanting an explanation, he began to read the article.

'Throughout history, many crimes have been committed where the offender disguises himself through various methods. But some were much more creative, and went so far as to disguise themselves as monsters, ghosts, aliens, and other unusual creatures. Come and see for yourself as tonight, the opening of London's hottest new attraction finally happens! Ticket's still available'

'Wow, now that actually sounds interesting' the Doctor commented quietly to himself.

'Doctor!' he heard a voice cry, and looking up, he saw Rose waving at him, whilst Craig carried the shopping bags. Smiling, the Doctor put the paper in the bin and ran back across the road, eager to tell his friends about his idea for the day.

'Hey, how would you two like to go to a museum for the day?' he asked them with a grin.

'Oh good, looking at a load of old bones and rocks. You have a time machine, we could go see Dinosaurs and things in real life' Rose countered him with, but the Doctor just smiled wider.

'Ah but this museum won't be filled with old bones and stuff, it's a museum of Paranormal Crimes. Cases were the criminal dressed up as monsters' the Doctor grinned in enthusiasm.

'That… actually sounds interesting' Rose admitted. Craig just looked at the Doctor in wonder.

'Is it here?' he asked, and the Doctor nodded.

'But then, why would you be interested in something like that? I mean, you could go see the real monsters'

'Well, I thought you'd enjoy it. Plus it would be interesting to see what other humans made of it?' the Doctor shrugged.

'Ah, I get it! You want to go point out what's wrong and how humans are stupid' Craig laughed.

'Well, there is always that, so how about it?' he asked again.

'Sure, sounds fun' Rose nodded with a smile. The Doctor grinned even wider, and grabbed her hand, pulling her off towards the Tardis.

'Hey! Slow down!' Craig cried as he tried to run away them whilst carrying old the shopping by himself. The Doctor and Rose just laughed loudly, but did not slow down.

…

It was that long later that the Tardis Kitchen had its cupboards filled again, and the three of them were back in the control room. The Doctor set the coordinators and moments later Rose and Craig were flying out the door, the Doctor less enthusiastically.

Whilst they had been putting the shopping away, Rose had suggested that they asked Jackie if she wanted to go with them to the museum. A look of horror had immediately crossed the Doctor's face, but Craig had told him to stop being mean and that they should go ask her. In the end the Doctor had sighed and given in, and now they were in the courtyard of the Powell Estate, heading up the stairs to Jackie's flat.

They had considered asking Mickey to come too, but in the end they had decided that it would be nice to spend some time with just their mother. The Doctor hadn't said it, but he was glad, seeing as Jackie was bad enough on her own, never mind having Mickey there too!

Craig used his key to let him in before he led the way into the flat.

'Mum, it's us!' he called. Jackie came out of the kitchen, a cup in her hands, and broad smile lighting up her face. She was wearing a bright pink hoodie, and a pair of baggy grey track suit bottoms.

'Rose! Craig! What a lovely surprize!' she beamed as she pulled her children into a hug.

'Doctor' she managed a small smile.

'Jackie' he nodded at her. It seemed as though they had still yet to warm to each other yet. Maybe one day they would be able to be nice to each other.

'Hey mum, how are you doing?' Rose asked her with a smile.

'Oh I'm doing greet, in fact I've got a date tomorrow night. Remember Steve?' she giggled.

'Steve down on floor one?' Rose asked in surprize.

'That's him. He asked me out the other day' Jackie nodded excitedly.

'Well good for you. But you don't have plans for tonight do you?' Craig asked her.

'No, why… what's up?' Jackie asked suddenly sounding suspicious.

'Nothing's up' Rose immediately shook it off.

'There's this museum opening and the Doctor fancied a look. We were wondering if you'd like to come with us' Craig explained.

'Oh, that new museum, Paranormal Crimes or whatever it's called' Jackie nodded in understanding. She had clearly seen the advertisements for the new attraction too.

'That's the one' the Doctor smiled.

'Yeah, why not. Sounds like fun. It's been ages since I've got to properly spend time with you two anyway' Jackie smiled, obviously pleased that her children had thought to include her in this.

'Come on then' Craig grinned.

'Wait, it's an opening, I have to get dressed up first' Jackie shook her head, before she hurried into her bedroom to get change. The Doctor rolled his eyes and shook his head, whilst Rose giggled at his expression and Craig smiled slightly. They waited in comfortable silence before the Doctor decided to break it.

'Why are human beings so vain?' he asked curiously. The strange thing was that he didn't sound like he was criticising them, but more like he was actually unsure on the answer.

'Well, there's lots of reasons' Rose shrugged.

'Mostly when you want to impress someone' Craig added after a moment's thought.

'I sometimes wonder if anything you lot does will ever hold the smallest ounce of intelligence' the Doctor sighed. Before Rose or Craig could reply, Jackie's bedroom door opened and she stepped out. She was now wearing a short violet dress and matching purple sequin shoes. Her hair had been tied up into an eloquent swirl and she had applied some subtle makeup to her eyes and mouth. Even the Doctor couldn't find anything to criticise.

'What d'ya think?' she asked, spinning around to show them ever angle.

'Whoa mum! You look gorgeous!' Rose squealed.

'Really?' Jackie asked with a bright grin.

'You look lovely mum' Craig said cheerfully.

'Yes… you do look nice Jackie' the Doctor added, and for once Jackie flashed him a true smile.

'Anyway, we'd better get going' Rose said.

'But it isn't until later is it?! I was just showing you my outfit. Plus if we are going don't you need to get dressed up?' Jackie sputtered at their eagerness. Once more, the Doctor shook his head in annoyance.

'We're going to use the Tardis! We'll go get tickets and then hop a few hours into the future' the Doctor told her.

'Oh… right' she nodded weakly.

'Anyway, come on, wagon's roll' Craig grinned as he once again led the way out of the flat. And moments later the Tardis control room found itself hosting its usual inhabitants, plus one Jackie Tyler.

'Right! First things first, we need some tickets' the Doctor stated as he pressed a few buttons.

The Tardis began to shake rather violently, the console sparking slightly.

'Bloody hell! I thought that the two of you running away from monsters wasn't safe, but his bloody driving must be ten times worse!' Jackie screeched as she did her best to hold onto one of the coral struts, which given the heels on her shoes, was proving rather difficult to stay upright.

'Oi! There's nothing wrong with my driving!' the Doctor shouted at her. Suddenly, they arrived, and the four of them were all thrown to the ground.

'Yeah! Nothing that a hospital couldn't put right with a few weeks of surgery' Jackie said sarcastically as she struggled to her fit, rubbing her back.

'Anyway, Craig, you go get the tickets, we'll go get dressed up' Rose said, jerking her thumb towards the Doctor.

'What? I was just going to wear this' he protested, plucking at his jumper.

'Well tough, we're going to go looking smart. It's a grand opening after all' Rose told him in a firm, non-nonsense sort of tone. Jackie sniggered slightly as she got that little glimpse of the relationship between the Doctor and Rose.

'Fine, see you in a bit Craig' the Doctor sighed and waved before the blonde man gave them a thumbs up, before he let the Tardis.

'Oh, and Jackie… don't touch anything, I don't want you blowing up the Tardis with your butter fingers' the Doctor said smugly as Rose dragged him out of the room.

'Why you cheeky little…' he heard Jackie hiss before he and Rose were out of earshot, heading in the direction of the wardrobe.

…

Craig looked up at the vast building that stood before him. The Doctor had parked the Tardis in an alleyway behind the main building, and it had taken Craig a few minutes to navigate his way around to the front of it. Now he was standing outside a small brown wooden booth beside a large set of glass doors. A cheerful faced woman in a red uniform was behind a glass window, smiling brightly at him.

'Hello sir! How can I help you?' she asked as Craig approached her booth.

'Hi, four tickets for the Paranormal Museum please?' he requested.

'Certainly. That'll be for you, your wife and children yeah?' she asked chattily.

'Oh no, no, me, my sister, my mum and my friend' Craig shook his head. His stomach twisted slightly at the thought of having a partner and kids. Not that he didn't want them… but that sentence just brought up a lot of bad memories. Memories had didn't particularly wish to revisit.

'Oh, a family outing! Well I hope you all enjoy the grand opening tonight' she smiled at him as he gave her the money for the four tickets.

'Thank you' he nodded, his face slightly less cheerful than before as he set of towards the Tardis. He didn't know why it was bothering him so much; it was just the thought of what she had said, the memories it had stirred up, memories of someone he had lost…

…

When Craig arrived outside the Tardis, he let out a loud sigh. He didn't want to be bombarded by questions by his mother or sister, and especially not by the Doctor, so he forced a smile back on his face as he open the door to the police box and stepped inside.

He found a rather grumpy Doctor standing in the control room with Jackie. He was wearing a black suit and white shirt, and was plucking at a black bow tie. Craig chuckled at the sight of him.

'Oh thank you very much' the Doctor huffed as the blonde moved up the ramp.

'You look great' Craig said, trying to keep a straight face.

'No I don't! I'm… I'm… I'm wearing a bow tie!' he cringed slightly.

'Yeah… Bow ties are so not cool' Craig agreed. The Doctor just grumbled and pulled at the black neckwear once more.

'Anyway, mum, here are the tickets. Look after them whilst I go get changed' Craig said, handing the tickets over to Jackie. He grinned at the pouting Doctor once more, before he let the room to go get dressed.

'So, how are you treating my children anyway?' Jackie demanded after a few seconds of silence.

'I… err' the Doctor said flustered, thinking about the whole Reaper incident with Pete. It had been a few days ago, and Rose had seemed to have cheered up, especially after their little adventure with the talking lions whilst in Africa.

'I think they're both happy. I've been doing my best to look out for them at any rate' the Doctor said slowly.

'Quite right too. So where have you been recently?' she asked in a hard tone of voice.

'Africa, a few other places' he shrugged.

'Where?' she wanted to know.

'All over really. London, a few years in the past, a pocket dimension based on the game Cluedo, a lot of places' he shrugged again. At that moment Rose walked in, wearing a tight pale green dress and matching boots. She held a matching strapless handbag, and her hair was flowing down her back. She looked absolutely stunning, and the Doctor turned away to prevent himself from staring. Normally he wouldn't have bothered, but with Jackie here he didn't want to be caught thinking about how… sexy she looked, lest he faced her mother's slap again.

'Wow, doesn't my daughter clean up well' Jackie grinned at Rose.

'Aw, thanks mum. Doctor?' Rose turned to face the Doctor, wanting his opinion too.

'Yes, you look lovely, fantastic' he said in a strangely strangled sort of voice, higher than his normal one.

'She looks absolutely superb' Jackie told him. Wanting this awkward moment to end, the Doctor changed the subject.

'Where's Craig anyway?' he asked.

'Right here' he said as he walked into the room. He was dressed like the Doctor, but his suit was grey, his shirt pink and his tie black.

'And my baby boy looks so hansom' Jackie beamed at the sight of her son, causing him to blush slightly.

'Right, off we go then' the Doctor grinned as he took them through the time vortex, making them reappear a few hours in the future in the exact same alleyway. The only way you could tell the Tardis had actually moved was that it was now at the other end of the alley. That and the fact that it was now dark outside. The stars twinkled above them, the moon bathing the streets in moonlight. The four of them all left through the door, closing it behind them.

'Argh, lovely, back of a blooming alleyway' Jackie said disgustedly as she looked around.

'Mum its fine, come on, this way' Rose said, leading her onwards. The Doctor approached Craig, bending down slightly to whisper into his ear.

'Mummy's baby boy' he whispered before he ran for it.

'You'd better run Time Boy!' Craig shouted after him. The Doctor rounded the corner Rose and Jackie had just turn, with Craig not a few seconds behind him. But they both paused when they faced an annoyed Jackie standing in front of them, hands on her hips.

'Now you two behave! I'm not putting up with any nonsense you hear me! First one to act up gets a slap!' she threatened. The Doctor actually gulped as he and Craig both took a step back. The two men both nodded, their eyes wide with fear, and smirking, Jackie turned and led the way, Rose bursting into laughter as she followed.

'Mum, how did you do that?' she asked in excitement.

'Oh, years of practice' Jackie giggled.

'I so need to learn that. This morning we went shopping and my god it was embarrassing' Rowe laughed. Behind her the Doctor was looking accusingly at Craig, who mock glared at him as they started their childish pretend argument back up again.

'That was so your fault' the Doctor told him.

'Was not' Craig stuck his tongue out at him.

Was too' the Doctor taunted.

'Was not' Craig protested.

Was too' the Doctor carried it on.

Was not' Craig shook his head firmly.

'BOYS!' Jackie screeched again from ahead of them, without even turning to face them.

'Sorry' they said in unison, before they both sighed, and gave into a night of pure Jackie Tyler torture. And once again, they could hear Rose giggling at the scene.

…

Eventually they reached the front of the three storied building, reaching the automatic doors, which now had large gold and silver balloons hanging around them, a large banner hanging over them. Many people dressed in fancy suits and dresses of various coloured were already walking in, whilst the press took pictures of the building.

'Thank you, Thank you! Now if you'd like to make your way inside, photographs may be taken. Please remember though this is only for the newspapers cameramen, and that normally photographs of the exhibits are not permitted' a voice called out over the excited babble. It belonged to a young woman with dark skin, black hair tied up gracefully, and wearing a short and sleek blue dress. There was a badge pinned to the front of the dress, with the letters VIP in big red letters. The four of them watched as the journalists and cameramen flooded into the town's newest tourist spot, clearly wanting to take advantage of this one time advantage.

The Doctor, Rose, Craig, and Jackie moved up the steps into the reception area, flashing their tickets at the doormen. Inside the room was very big, and very posh. The floor was tiled in black and white, the walls were lined with red curtains by glassed windows they were high above them. Tables with expensive looking food were scattered about, and waiters were moving around with trays of glasses of wine. A large stage had four musicians standing on it, playing music on their string instruments; and throughout the room, in a sort of path there were large glass cabinets built on plinths, and inside said cabinets were figurines. But not mannequins, these one were all various creatures and monsters. Or at least, models of creatures and monsters.

'Wow, very posh' Rose said looking around.

'Blimey, it is pretty impressive isn't it' Jackie agreed with her.

'I'm very pleased that you think so' a voice said behind the foursome, and turning, they saw the dark woman from outside had obviously heard them talking. She approached them, smiling widely.

'Hi, Carol Knight, Exhibition designer and museum owner' she introduced herself, holding out her hand to shake the Doctor's.

'Oh, you're the one behind all this. Well Miss Knight, it is very impressive' the Doctor nodded at her as she shook Rose's, Craig's, and Jackie's hands in turn too.

'Thank you, but have you looked around at the exhibits yet?' she asked.

'Not yet' he smiled.

'Well, I'd be very pleased to give some of my viewers a tour' she offered, and the four of the grin in excitement.

'Really?' Rose beamed. A tour by the owner who properly knew more about it than anyone would definitely make this even better than it already was.

'Sure' Carol smiled and they instantly agreed. She led them towards the first glass cabinet, inside of which was a monster.

'You see, all of the exhibits are costumes donated to us by the metropolitan police force. Here we have 'The Lightning Bolt Phantom' Carol said dramatically. Inside the cabinet was a costume which looked like a white ghost, but had blue flashing lights all over it. It didn't seem to have legs though, and its mask face seemed to be sneering at them. A golden plaque was situated at the base of the plinth, and the Doctor knelt down to read it.

'Right, so the Lightning Bolt Phantom was really a man named Grey Winters, who could… fly and fire lightning bolts at his victims to rob banks?' the Doctor read in confusion.

'What, he could fire lightning at people?' Jackie asked Carol in confusion, but she just smiled and shook her head.

'Many of the criminal who designed these facades were extremely intelligent. The Lightning Bolt Phantom would use a modified Stun Gun which appeared to fire lightning bolts at people, and he used body balloons filled with helium to appear to fly' she explained.

'Clever' the Doctor nodded as he stood up again.

'That was one of the last cases my grandfather solved before he passed on' Carol said sadly as they went onto the next case.

'Your grandfather?' Craig raised an eyebrow.

'Oh yes. You see my grandfather was a freelance detective investigator, but he had friends in the police force. He actually solved many of the cases in here, but let the police do the heavy stuff. I built this museum in honour of him' Carol said proudly.

'That's really amazing' Jackie said in awe as they looked in the next case. This one held the costume of a beautiful and yet terrible looking woman. She had look trailing sleek grey hair pouring out from under a black smirking red eyed mask. The outfit was somewhat revealing and leathery, and it had trailing feathery wings protruding from the back. The knee length bolts had strange sort of wing designs running up them. They were all staring at the costume when a waiter came up to them, offering them glasses of Champaign. Carol declined, but the Doctor, Rose, Craig, and Jackie all took a glass, thanking him as he walked away.

'And here we have 'The Grey Enchantress', she made any man fall madly in love with her, whilst she turn anyone that failed to fall for her into stone' Carol smiled at them.

'Ok, how on earth could somebody manage that?' Rose asked bewilderedly.

'Well, of course nobody could actually do that for real. She was a genius in the art of perfumery though, and developed a scent which caused the testosterone and many over chemical reactions in the male's brain to go berserk, stimulating a romantic attraction response to the wearer. As for turning people to stone, she was bound and gag the 'petrified victim' and would forge a body cast of them, which she'd use to pour quick drying cement into. Only took her an hour or two at most. She'd then hold the victims hostage somewhere until she'd stolen whatever she had gone to steal' Carol explained.

'Wow, and these days it's all just smash and grab. It's funny to think at just how imaginative even criminals used to be' Jackie mused aloud.

'We actually have a Psychologist specialising in the workings of the criminal mind working with us. In fact, he's here tonight as an honoured guest' Carol told them.

'Is he? I wouldn't mind a talk with him' the Doctor said interested. Carol began to look around, before she stopped and pointed through the crowd.

'That's him over there' she said, pointing at a man walking towards them. The five of them looked at him for a moment, before there was a loud smashing sound. Transfixed, pale, and wide eyed, Craig had dropped his glass of Champaign, causing it to smash and sent glass and alcohol all over the floor.

'Oh no' Jackie whispered as she realised who the man was.

'It can't be' Rose said in shock. She looked at her brother who looked ill, pale and sweating, his eyes wide, with small tears forming in the corners of them. She grabbed his hand to comfort him, noticing how clammy it was, how dry his mouth looked. He was trembling slightly and staring at the man in absolutely misery.

'Craig, what's the matter? Who is that?' the Doctor asked him gently, but Craig only made some soft gurgling noises, like his throat was too choked up to speak.

Suddenly it seemed as though the man had sensed them watching him, as he looked up and caught Craig's eye. He blinked before he grinned slightly, but it faltered slightly at the less than happy look on Craig's face.

'Come on Craig, don't speak to him' Jackie tried to pull him away, but Craig wouldn't budge. He just kept staring at the man coming closer; it was like he was in a state of shock or something, like he wasn't even aware that any of them were there.

The man kept walking towards them, stopping just before them. He was young, clearly only twenty or twenty-one, and had a cheerful cheeky face, albeit he looked a little shocked right now. He had sparkling blue eyes, and chaotic spiky brown hair. He was taller and slim, but had some muscle on his arms and chest, and was wearing a charcoal grey suit over a white shirt and black tied. He was very attractive, and gave off an aura of being fun-loving and adventurous.

'Hello Craig' he whispered like he couldn't quite believe it. He had a cocky welsh accent and the Doctor's eyes widened as he realised that this must be the boyfriend that had taught Craig welsh!

'M…Mark' Craig stuttered out, a tear running down his cheek.

'How have you… err, been?' Mark rubbed the back of his head slightly.

'Oh, erm, ok I guess. Good, yeah… I've been… good' Craig said blankly, like he couldn't quite string his thoughts together to form a strong sounding sentence. The Doctor wanted to demand this Mark guy explain himself for Craig's reaction, but he was too curious and intrigued to interrupt.

'Craig, come on, let's go' Jackie urged him. Mark turned to her, glaring slightly.

'Oh what do you think I'm going to do Jackie?' he asked in a harsh tone.

'Listen to me you, Craig was severely depressed after he saw you last time, and I was at my wits end trying to help him get over you' Jackie hissed at him. The Doctor let out a small gasp of surprize at her words. Craig had been depressed? How badly? And why hadn't he ever told _him_ that?

'Look, that was… difficult on both of us… I was depressed too' Mark said, looking down at the ground guiltily. Instantly the Doctor glared at him, wanting to know what he had done to hurt his Craig in such a way.

'That didn't stop you from trying to talk to him all the time, waiting outside his office, trying to get him to take you back. And he did it for you Mark, he did it to give you want you wanted' Jackie told him, somewhat softer now.

'What he thought I wanted…' Mark muttered.

'Come on Craig, let's go' Jackie ordered, grabbing Craig's arm and trying to pull her son away again.

'No, it's fine, you guys go. I wanna talk to him' Craig shrugged her off. Jackie let out a deep sigh.

'You'll regret it later, but if you insist… Carol, what's that costume about?' Jackie asked, pointing to a cabinet further away from them.

'Ah yes, come on, I'll show you' Carol said, picking up on the hint and steering the Doctor, Rose, and Jackie in that direction, leaving Craig and Mark alone. The Doctor threw his friend one last concerned look over his shoulder before he walked away.

…

'Ok, what was that about and who was that man?' the Doctor asked Rose. They were standing behind Jackie and Carol, who was explaining about the costume in front of them. It a huge green scaly costume, supposedly built to look like a Pterodactyl. It had glowing red eyes and sharp claws, and light thin wings, and a long tail. Apparently it was called 'The Pterodactyl Ghost' but the Doctor and Rose weren't listening to what Carol was explaining about it.

'That man was Marcus Stevenson or Mark as Craig called him' Rose began to explain with a sigh.

'Did Craig ever tell you that we both nearly got married once' she asked him, and his eyes widened in surprize.

'Clearly not' Rose said softly.

'I knew he had, but not you' the Doctor told her.

'Oh, well… Craig was engaged to Mark, but things went wrong and he broke it off. Mark… didn't take it great. Well, Craig didn't either, but he said it needed to be done' she said sadly.

'Why, did Mark hurt him or something?' the Doctor asked, anger in his voice at the thought of Craig living with an abusive man or something equally bad.

'God no! Mark was in every way the perfect gentleman, he loved Craig more than anything, and he was so kind and caring towards him, perfect husband material. I wouldn't mind finding a man like him' Rose quickly put him straight.

'Then why did things go so wrong for them. I mean, Craig looked pretty shook up back there' the Doctor noted.

'Yeah, well… I suppose what it really comes down to is the fact that they are both men. And I don't mean that they were uncomfortable about that. Craig's openly gay and Mark's openly bisexual. I suppose how it all really started was when Mark proposed to Craig' Rose said looking thoughtful about how best to explain the situation as she knew it.

'I don't understand' the Doctor said in confusion.

'Well, Craig knew that ever since he met Mark that he was meant to have kids. He always wanted a big family since he grew up alone, and Craig wanted him to be happy. He wanted a family too, just later I think. Anyway, a few weeks before their wedding they had this adoption interview. Craig never told me what was said, but it was bad' Rose shook her head. The Doctor frowned. There was little doubt that petty human prejudice about homosexual activity would have played its part too.

'Anyway, their relationship didn't last long after. Craig broke it off. Mark tried to get him to change his mind, but in the end they just decided not to see each other again, even as friends, since it would be too hard to go back to how great things had been before' Rose finished sadly.

'But I still don't get why Craig would break it up. I mean, surely there were other options' the Doctor mused.

'I think that deep down Craig realised that there wasn't an easy way of giving Mark a family, so he did the only thing he could to give Mark that chance, he gave him up' Rose explained to him, and the Doctor's mouth fell open in shock. That was so… compassionate, so loving, putting the one you love's happiness before your own… that was so Craig Tyler!

…

'So… you're doing well for yourself now yeah?' Craig asked nervously. He and Mark had walked off together and were now standing in front of another exhibit. This one was a costume of a large muscly Pirate. He wore a long black coat, had a wooden leg and eye-patch, and a large black Captains' hat with the classic Skull and Cross bones on it. His eyes shimmered slightly; as did the stuffed brightly coloured parrot's placed on his shoulder. Apparent this was 'Black Beard, the Phantom Pirate' and Craig was reading the plaque under the costume. Or more accurately, he was pretending to read it, but he was actually just trying not to look at Mark.

'Yeah, yeah, I'm doing good. What about you though. I was so worried when you disappeared. I went to see Jackie a few times, but she would never let me in. And the police asked me about you, but I had nothing to tell them' Mark told him, in a voice that was clearly asking where he had disappeared too. Craig let out a soft sigh.

'I was just travelling' he stated as he stood up, still being careful not to look at his ex-fiancé.

'I was worried, really worried. I was terrified that you might have…' Mark couldn't finish.

'But I didn't' Craig told him firmly as he watched over to another glass cabinet. This one had a large furry wolf like creature inside it. Its eyes were golden; its claws raised high over its head, its fur and tail on end, fake drool dangling from its bared fangs.

He knelt down to read the plaque, and nearly fell down in surprize. Although he really should have expected it. The monster was apparently called 'The Bad Wolf'. He sighed, BAD WOLF was just about the last thing he needed right about now. But he didn't have time to worry about it this time, he had an ex fiancé he needed to talk too yet ignore at the same time.

'No, you didn't. I'm so glad about that' Mark admitted and Craig sighed again.

'Craig, would you please just look at me?' Mark begged of him after a few seconds of silence. Sighing again, Craig did as he was ask, and looked Mark dead in the eye. And what he saw was sadness looking back at him, sadness and hurt shining out of Mark's eyes. It was like a physical pain to see, it reminded him so much of the day he had ended their relationship. He would never forget that devastated expression on Mark's face, nor the hurt that there was nothing he could do to change it.

'What happened between us? It never used to be so… awkward' Mark asked him softly, gently reaching and cupping his hand.

'Mark… come on, you know why things had to happen like this, why we couldn't be together' Craig said as tears began forming in his eyes again as he pulled his hand away. He turned away from the brown haired man, but Mark's hand lightly gripped his arm.

'Don't go yet… please don't go' he pleaded. Craig slowly turned back to face him.

'Listen, you're still… I mean, I haven't…' he failed to get the words out.

'So, other than this job, what else have you been up too?' Craig changed the subject.

'Oh, well…' Mark rubbed the back of his head. Craig sighed, he could still read Mark like a book, he still knew him well enough to do that. And he was hiding something, and felt uneasy about it.

'Mark?' he urged him gently.

'I… have a … wife and daughter now' Mark admitted slowly, looking nervously as Craig's reaction changed slowly into a strange dazed expression.

'Congratulations' he said after a few moments, but it did not sound overly enthusiastic. It sounded strained.

'Thanks' Mark nodded.

'What's her name?' Craig wanted to know.

'Which one?' Mark asked quietly, unsure about whether he had meant his wife or child.

'Both' Craig stated softly.

'You know my wife, Helena, and my daughters called Charlotte' Mark said, a small smile curling the corners of his mouth, but it still looked sad.

'So you have a baby girl…?' Craig asked softly, to which Mark uneasily nodded. Craig blinked a few times, trying to process the information, when the first part of Mark's answer hit him.

'Helena, from the office?' Craig blinked. That was how Craig and Mark had met each other. They had worked in the same office, and one day Mark had asked Craig out. Helena was a receptionist there, and had always had a soft spot for Mark and was fine with his bisexuality, though she was still Craig's friend.

'Yeah. When you disappeared I was in bits, and she offered a shoulder to cry on… and things just kind of went on from there' Mark shrugged.

'…Oh' was all Craig had to say to that. He paused for a moment, trying to think of what to say next.

'Well I'm glad you found someone, I wanted you to be happy, plus now you have a daughter!' he said, forcing the cheer into his voice.

'Yeah, but it's still not like what I had with you' Mark told him, causing the fake smile Craig had conjured to faltered.

'Mark… you were there at the meeting, you heard what the woman said. A gay couple like us would likely never be allowed to adopt or even foster a child' Craig sighed, tears brimming in his eyes at the mention of that day.

'I know, but I was willing to do without having children, all I wanted was to be with you' Mark protested, his own tears forming now. Craig blinked as he started to cry more heavily too, not sobbing or anything, but crying all the same. This was exactly like that horrible day, the day he had ended it.

'Mark, I could see that you were meant to have kids. I couldn't give you them, so I had to let you go' Craig told him, suddenly desperate for him to understand that he wasn't trying to hurt Mark in any way, but that he was giving him what he wanted, what he needed.

'But you didn't have too, I wanted you in my life, forever' Mark told him.

'Mark, don't think I got off easy. I was depressed for weeks, months! There were days I barely got out of bed, days I wouldn't eat unless mum practically forced me too, days I barely washed properly, and I sometimes went days without sleeping. I ended up on flipping pills and even had therapy for god's sake! Giving you up was the hardest thing I've ever face in my life, hell, even a Dalek and Slitheen can't hold a candle to the pain I felt then' Craig told him softly.

'Dalek? Slitheen… what are…' Mark began but Craig swiftly cut him off.

'It doesn't matter Mark. What matters is that I want you to know that the only reason I gave up on us was because I wanted what was best for you. Because that's what love is, loving somebody so much you do what's right for them, even if it means losing them' Craig told him, truth in every word he spoke.

'And what about you Craig? What about what you wanted? What about what was right for you?' Mark asked through a sniffle.

'I just wanted you to be happy' Craig wiped at his eyes. And without saying another word, Craig walked off, brushing off the tears streaming down his cheeks as he ignored the voice calling him back, and all the guests looking after him in confusion and wonder.

…

The Doctor, Rose, Jackie, and Carol were walking towards another exhibit when Craig approached them. Instantly they saw his puffy eyes and red cheeks, and knew that he had been crying.

'Oh Craig, I'm sorry that you had to run into him of all people' Jackie said as she pulled him into a hug, gently rubbing his back.

'Yeah, I know it must still feel pretty raw Craig, but you'll find somebody else, someone things are meant to work out with' Rose offered him a reassuring smile.

'I'm sorry Craig, if I hadn't suggested coming here you wouldn't have had to see him' the Doctor said regrettably as the two broke apart. Craig turned to face him.

'It's not your fault Doctor, how could you have possibly known, it's not your fault, so don't dwell on it' Craig assured him.

'Anyway, I don't want to think about Mark Stevenson anymore. We came for the grand opening, so what's this one about?' Craig turned to Carol, pointing at the glass cabinet they were next to. This one held a large Knight like costume, composed of steely black armour, with red glowing eyes. In one hand a long curved axe was held, in the other, a deadly looking mace.

'Ah, that's one of my favourites' Carol said, picking up the hint to change the subject, and feeling bad for the man, she helped him out.

'The Darkest Knight. The very first case my grandfather solved in his career. It was because of this that he chose to investigate crimes with a paranormal angle. The Darkest Knight had two weapons, both deadly, with could decapitate victims effortlessly. He was a jewel thief, and was so dangerous, that even the Crown Jewels were taken into hiding, along with members of the royal family' Carol told them.

'Wait, he decapitated people?!' Rose asked in shock.

'Yes… the man behind the mask was a hardened criminal. Sadly, he had no mercy to those that stood in his way' Carol shook her head sadly.

'Aren't there any other exhibits, ones a pick more… light hearted?' Jackie asked, obvious worried about Craig still. Carol laughed slightly, before she snapped her fingers like she had just had an idea.

'Oh, I have just the monster. This way' she led them on to another part of the exhibition. As they went, none of them saw the Darkest Knight's helmet move to follow them, they didn't see one of its glowing red eyes wink at their backs.

…

'These ones are 'The Rabid Rabbit Brothers', some of the more ridiculous foes my grandfather investigated' Carol laughed as she held an arm out to the next cabinet. The four of them chuckled slightly. Inside the case were two costumes. They were both bright pink bunny rabbits, with huge curled up ears ending in white fur. Their bellies and tails were also white in fur colour, and their eyes were swirls and yellow, making them look crazy. Foam was around their mouths, making them look like them had rabies. Even though they looked cute and crazy, the claws on their paws did look somewhat threatening.

'These two were built for speed. Wheels and mini engines fitting into the feet made the men inside move at incredible speeds, allowing them to get in and out of banks in seconds, and get far away from the scene in a matter of minutes' Carol explained with chuckling.

'How did the police stop them?' a giggling Jackie asked.

'Oh, that was pretty creative. They poured super glue on a road' Carol laughed and the four of them burst out laughing.

'The wheels got stuck and they couldn't move!' she laughed harder, causing the whole group to get louder and attract several funny looks from the other observers. But suddenly they heard something which wiped any look of amusement off their faces. A loud piercing scream rang out through the exhibition.

'CALL THE POLICE! MURDER! KILLER! CALL THE POLICE!' an elderly lady was screeching at the top of her lungs, running into the room flailing her arms. All the other guests soon started muttering quickly, as the Doctor, Rose, and Craig charged through the crowds in the direction the woman had come running from. Jackie and Carol hesitantly followed them.

The five of them burst into the lobby, only to nearly be sick at the sight before them. The white floor and walls were drenched in scarlet blood; there were even splatters of it on the ceiling! A large man in a black suit was lying on the ground, or what was left of him. Craig felt his stomach turn in sickness when they approached him, and saw that his head had been severed from his neck and was lying a few feet away, a look of shock lining the man's features. His arms and legs were twisted and bleeding, his neck was pouring with blood where the head had once been.

Jackie ran outside and the sound of her being sick could clearly be heard. Rose was tempted to go follow her, but she knew to stay there, after all, the Doctor might need her.

The Doctor himself, whilst felling rather ill at the sight, knelt down and took out his sonic screwdriver.

'What are you doing?' a very pale Carol asked him.

'Just doing a quick scan' the Doctor said softly as he began to scan the body. After a few minutes, he stood back up, his face somewhat grim.

'What is it?' Rose asked, looking sick and distressed.

'Something metal was used to slice his head away from his body. It was cut that efficiently that… that… that the head… would still have been alive for about a minute afterwards' he gagged out, looking ready to vomit. That time neither Rose nor Craig could stop themselves. They both sprinted outside and threw up their stomachs in the bushes.

The Doctor just looked into the exhibition call as sirens sounded in the distance. He knew that someone in that room was a killer, and after learning that the poor man had severed having his head still alive, still screaming, for up to a minute, he was determined to find out who it was, so that he could teach them a lesson.

**...**

**And there's part one! Yay! Craig's ex is finally revealed! This was one of the very first own adventures I thought up, before I even started writing this story. Looking at it now, it kind of matches Amy and Rory trouble at the start of series 7, but a more human version in which things didn't work out in the end. Oh well. Please tell me what you think of this, and what you think of Mark : ) See ya later!**


	62. The Darkest Knight, A Criminal's Shrine

**Hey readers! Wow, I very nearly forgot it was update day today! But I'm still in time, and on that note, here's part two. Also, I've got quite a bit to say, so please read my Bottom note once you're done. Please note that Doctor Who isn't mine but Craig Tyler and this adventure are. Hope you enjoy : )**

**...**

**The Darkest Knight – A Criminal's Shrine**

It hadn't taken long for the police to arrive on the gruesome scene, and soon the entire museum was busy with activity again, only now everyone was being held together in the main hall. The police had taped off the area, and were taking a list of names and addresses and statements.

The Doctor, Rose, Craig, Jackie, and Carol had all been questioned the most, seen they had actually seen the body, and now they were busy with some investigations of their own. The Doctor wanted to have a word with whoever had caused someone the horror of being alive with no body, and Rose and Craig were determined to help him.

They were just looking around the exhibition for some kind of clue when…

'CRAIG!' a panicked voice cried, and turning, Craig was literally crushed into a hug from Mark, who was shaking slightly. The Doctor and Rose looked back at them for a moment, and sensing this would be a private conversation, tactfully kept on walking further away from them.

'M…Mark… what's wrong?' Craig asked as he awkwardly patted the taller man on the back. After a few moments, Mark broke away from him and Craig saw his face. His expression was very afraid and worried.

'What's wrong?! There's a killer in here! What if he hurt you?' he said fearfully. Craig sighed softly. Mark had always been the type to become overly worried about him in a crisis, and it seemed that despite the fact that they hadn't seen each other for so long; Mark still was as protective over Craig as fiercely as ever.

Craig took a step back from him slightly, looking determinedly into his eyes. he would admit that it felt nice that his ex-fiancé still cared so much about him, but he was different now, he had seen so much and he could handle himself. And Mark was different too, he had a wife and daughter now, and Craig would not be responsible for anything ruining that.

'Mark, there is absolutely nothing at all to suggest that I'm in any danger. It's really sweet of you to worry about me, but I really don't need it' Craig said gently but firmly.

'But… what if something bad happens to you… I couldn't bare that' Mark said in surprize.

'Yes you could. You have a family to go back to, there's no need to worry about me' Craig told him. Mark looked down, somewhat guiltily and hurt.

'I can't help caring about you Craig. Even before we started… you know, I still cared a lot about you' Mark muttered.

'I know, and I still care about you, it's just… it's not right for you to… I mean… well, you have a family that needs you! I have the Doctor and Rose! We're fine and happy the way we are!' Craig spluttered out.

'Not like we used to be…' Mark muttered, but Craig still heard him, though whether he was meant to or not wasn't clear. Craig blinked. Mark had always wanted children, that much he knew, but was he really happy now that he had one…? That was something that Craig couldn't go on without knowing first.

'Mark… you are happy with Helena aren't you? And your daughter, Charlotte, you are happy about her aren't you?' he asked in a near whisper. Mark slowly raised his eyes up to meet Craig's.

'Yes I am… but not as happy as I was when with you' he said slowly. Craig looked away, a small tear forming in the corner of his eye. He discreetly wiped it away. No… he couldn't… he couldn't take Mark back… it wasn't fair, to Helena, Charlotte, or Mark himself. And it wasn't fair to him. He was happy the way he was, travelling the stars and the whole of time.

'Well, it doesn't matter, because you're with them now' he said eventually.

'And who do you have?' Mark asked him quietly.

'The Doctor' Craig smiled slightly, before he walked off in the direction Rose and the Doctor had gone a few minutes earlier. But apparently Mark wasn't done with him yet, seeing as he followed him before he quickly fell into line with the blonde.

'And what's that meant to mean? Who is he anyway?' Mark asked in a seemingly annoyed, and most likely jealous, tone.

'He's not my boyfriend is that what you're worried about. He's straight, and even if he was gay, I still wouldn't go after him. He's my best friend; actually he's more like my big brother. I love him very much… but not in the way that I used to love you' Craig did his best to explain his relationship with the Doctor without giving away the truth of their lives together.

'Used too…' Mark said, sounding very down again. Craig stopped and turned to face him.

'Yes Mark… Used too' Craig nodded before he carried on again.

'And what are you doing now then?' Mark asked, mostly likely trying to change the subject.

'Help him figure out what killed the man out front' Craig shrugged nonchalantly.

'Can I help?' Mark asked hopefully. He probably just wanted to spend as much time as possible with Craig before he left again. Craig was in doubt whether that was a good idea or not. The longer they were together, the harder it would be to say goodbye when the time came. But the tone in his voice, he was clearly desperate just to spend some time with him, if only for a bit. He sighed as he made up his mind.

'Alright, come on… let's go catch up with the Doctor and Rose' he said after a moment. And with a grin on his face, Mark sped up slightly, a doubtful looking blonde by his side.

…

It had only taken a few minutes until the two of them had caught up with the Doctor and Rose, who both seemed very surprized to see Mark there.

'Mark going to help us solve this' Craig told them in a very firm voice. The Doctor looked at him in concern. His tone made it clear that if he said anything rude to Mark, the time lord would have a very angry Craig to deal with.

'Right, ok then! This is what me and Rose have so far' he said, pointing down at the ground. Craig blinked in surprize. On the ground was a footprint, red and drippy, clearly having been made in blood, and it was standing right in front of the Darkest Knight exhibit. Literally right in front of it, so close that it was like whatever had made it had stepped right into the exhibit itself. And the footprint's size and shape, they were large and unusual, and closely resembled a large steel boot, possible a piece of armour. Craig looked behind him, and saw that a there was a trail of bloody footprints leading from the exhibit towards the spot the man had been murdered in.

'Do the police know about this, have you told them?' Mark asked quietly.

'No, and until we figure out what it means, we're not going to' the Doctor said firmly and a little coolly. Craig may have given him up, but a part of the Doctor still didn't like the affect that Mark was having on his best friend, even if it was unintentional.

Craig quickly threw the Doctor a glare, who discreetly held his hands up in a surrendering position, and satisfied, Craig turned back to the Darkest Knight which he was examining. He walked the whole way around it, looking at it from every angle. There was only one odd thing he could find about it.

'Doctor, why is there a trail of footprints leading too this spot, but not away from it?' he asked curiously as he walked back around to the Doctor's side, looking up at the leering face of the Darkest Knight.

The Doctor frowned slightly in deep thought, before the most obvious answer hit him. but it couldn't be… could it?

'Because the killer is still here' he said quietly.

'What, where?' Rose asked nervously, looking around. The Doctor didn't reply, he just pointed at the Knight costume in the tank. Rose began to laugh slightly when she caught onto what he was suggesting.

'Oh come on, that's just ridiculous' she giggled.

'Is it? After all, how did we first meet?' he asked with raised eyebrows. Rose stopped laughing instantly as the memories of the walking shop window dummies returned to her. She supposed that on some level, perhaps that costume could be animated too, that or somebody could be inside it, using it to kill.

'Well can't you check if anyone's in there?' she asked. He nodded, pulling out the sonic screwdriver.

'What's that thing?' Mark asked, pointing at the sonic.

'Sonic Screwdriver' the Doctor said without looking at him, his attention on scanning the

'That rubbish' Mark snorted

'Stupid Apes, I pity the lot of ya' the Doctor huffed indignantly.

'Oi' Rose cried, slapping his arm.

'Not you, not you and Craig, you aren't stupid apes' he quickly amended.

'And Mark isn't either! And you'd do well to remember that' Craig glared at him. The Doctor sighed, before he turned to face Mark.

'Sorry' he mumbled.

'It's fine' Mark brushed it off. The Doctor nodded, before turning back to the cabinet, finishing his scan of the costume.

'Well there's only residue of human traces having been in the costume recently, whoever was in it isn't there now' the Doctor said after a few moments. He frowned when the sonic beeped after a few seconds, having detected something else.

'What is it?' Rose asked. The Doctor, eyebrows raised in curiosity, increased the scanning, and after a moment the results were shown.

'There's a gap underneath the costume!' he said in shock.

'What?' Craig blinked.

'That's a hole under it, big enough to be a tunnel of trapdoor of some kind' the Doctor grinned, thinking that they had found there first clue into solving this already. He quickly moved around to the back of the cabinet, where the glass pane was on a hinge and small padlock, and using the sonic, he unlocked it, allowing them entry to the cabinet.

'No one's allowed to touch the costumes' Mark hissed at him.

'Yeah, try me' the Doctor smirked at him as he grabbed a hold of the Darkest Knight costume, pulling it down. Since the boots were held onto the plinth it was displayed on by thick hardy wires, the top of the plinth creaked down with it, revealing a large opening underneath, just like the Doctor had said. A thick rope was attached to the base of the plinth and was hanging down through the gap in the floor, presumably to pull the plinth back into its correct position.

'Right then, fancy a look anyone?' the Doctor grinned.

'Definitely' Rose beamed at him. Craig just smiled as he and his sister made their way around the cabinet, before clambering over the Darkest Knight costume and lowering themselves into the entrance of what seemed to be a very long tunnel. There was a ladder in it, which they both held onto to make sure they didn't fall.

'But… we can't just…'

'Mark, come on. You said you wanted to help, well this is how you help' Craig told him firmly.

'Craig Tyler, what the hell happened to you…?' Mark grumbled as he made his way into the cabinet.

'Good boy' the Doctor smirked at him as Mark lowered himself into the tunnel, climbing down the ladder which Rose and Craig were already making their way down. The Doctor quickly followed him into the gap, using the sonic to seal the cabinet up again, before he started climbing down, pulling on the rope and moving the plinth back to its normal position, sealing the tunnel and plunging them all into darkness.

'God it's so dark' Rose's voice said from further below him.

'Hold on a minute' the Doctor muttered as he dug around in his pockets. It took nearly a minute, but he eventually found what he was looking for. He pulled a thick heavy torch out of his pocket and turned it on, filling the tunnel with a least a bit of light.

'Ah that's better' Craig smiled as the Doctor shone it downwards. He could see that Rose was below him, Mark and the Doctor above him.

'How the hell did that fit in there?' Mark asked in bewilderment.

'My pockets are bigger on the inside' the Doctor shrugged as they all began to move down the ladder again.

'Oh of course' Mark said sarcastically as they made their way further down the vertical tunnel.

After that they made their way down in silence, slowly climbing deeper and deeper until they finally reached the bottom of the ladder, only to find another tunnel, now horizontal, was straight ahead of them.

'Oh great, more tunnels' Mark muttered.

'Stop whining' the Doctor scolded him as he took the lead, heading into the new tunnel, using the torch to guide them. Once again, the Doctor and Rose walked ahead, with Craig and Mark hanging back a little.

'Craig, what the hell are you doing? What mess are you caught up in?' Mark asked, actually sounding desperate to know.

'This? This is mild considering some places I've been' Craig said evasively. But Mark could still read him as well as Craig could read him, and he wasn't about to let him get out of answering so easily.

'No Craig, you tell me. You tell me right now. God, I don't know; first you disappear for a whole year, and then when you do come back, you're like this… little crime investigator or something! What happened to the office boy I fell for?' Mark asked, looking him dead in the eye.

'I changed. I met the Doctor and I had to change. Now I'm so much better than the office boy you knew' Craig said in a firm tone before he grabbed hold of Mark's hand and pulled him up the tunnel.

'But if you carry on like this, carry on changing, what will you become?' Mark asked quietly. That brought Craig up short. His DNA, he had completely forgot to ask the Doctor about that. And he should really tell him about the whole Bad Wolf thing, but then again this was hardly the time for that.

'I don't know…' Craig whispered. He was saved from answering further when he heard something up ahead.

'Aha!' the Doctor cried like he had just discovered something. Glad for the distraction, Craig picked up his pace and soon was by the Doctor and Rose's sides. Mark sighed, before he hurried up the tunnel after him.

The four of them had reached the end of the tunnel, and what they found was not what any of them have been expecting. They were in a grand archway, ornate and beautiful, looking in at an enormous chamber. It had grey stone walls, all with strange symbols carved into them, and lit up with hundreds and hundreds and orange candles, casting an eerie glow around the darkened chamber. A huge sort of bird hung from the ceiling, or more accurate, a model of one hung. It was some kind of Pterodactyl, but it seemed a little more mysterious then the ones in books. A huge sort of desk lined the back wall, and on it were a jumble of pictures and photographs. The Doctor took a second to look around at the strange chamber, before he had cross it and was rifling across the desk.

'They're all cuttings out of newspapers' the Doctor muttered, and indeed they were, and they all seemed to be about the Darkest Knight. His various crimes, victims of his, what he had stolen, when he had first been seen, the arrest, and all sorts of articles dedicated to the Darkest Knight.

'They're all about the Darkest Knight' Mark stated the obvious.

'Riley Summers' the Doctor nodded.

'Who?' Craig asked.

'Riley Summers, the Darkest Knight' the Doctor said, pointing at one of the articles.

'Ok, so what's that doing here?' Rose wondered, pointing up at the replica Pterodactyl hanging over their heads.

'Doctor, what is this place?' Craig asked when nobody had an answer to Rose's question.

'Dunno' the Doctor shrugged, still with his attention on rifling through the papers.

'It's some kind of Shrine' Mark told him with an air of certainty in his voice.

'Yeah? To the Darkest Knight?' Craig asked him, receiving a nod as confirmation.

'So… maybe… could be' the Doctor muttered to himself.

'What, what 'could be'?' Rose asked him.

'I think that this shrine was built in honour of the Darkest Knight, by the original Pterodactyl Ghost we saw in the exhibition' the Doctor explained.

'What, so you think that Riley Summers inspired the Pterodactyl Ghost?' Mark wondered.

'Think so' the Doctor nodded again.

'Fits the profile' Mark said after a moment.

'So if this place is a shrine to the Darkest Knight, do you think that perhaps the killer was the Pterodactyl Ghost, the original one?' Rose turned to the Doctor.

'Possibly, why don't you ring Jackie and find out' the Doctor suggested, and Rose quickly drew out her mobile.

'You'll never get a signal this far underground' Mark pointed out.

'Superphone, he zapped them' Craig grinned, holding up his own mobile.

'Are you serious?' Mark rolled his eyes.

'Never knowingly' Craig grinned cheekily at him, earning a small chuckle from the Doctor. The three of them hushed down though as Rose dialled Jackie's number, putting the phone on voicemail at the same time.

'Hello?' Jackie's voice came through the line after a moment.

'Hi mum, it's me' Rose said.

'Rose?! It's about time! Where the hell are you? I've been looking for you all for ages!' Jackie complained.

'Listen Jackie, we don't have time to listen to you complain, we need you to help us with something' the Doctor said rudely.

'Oh charming, ever heard of the word please' Jackie snapped at him, and Mark chuckled.

'Same as ever' he whispered to Craig.

'Please mum. It's about the security guard, we're trying to solve his murder' Rose put in her.

'I suppose leaving it to the police would be too boring would it? Alright then, what d'ya need?' Jackie sighed.

'The Pterodactyl Ghost, we need you to read out what it's plaque' Rose said.

'…Ok' Jackie said after a moment, sounding confused. There was silence for a few moment, presumably Jackie was walking over to the right cabinet, before her voice was back.

'Right, so The Pterodactyl Ghost was a guy who built a small rudimentary glider system with aloud him to fly and drift on the wind. He'd swoop into banks and fly out again and steal a fortune. He could also spit flames from his mouth, but it was just a flamethrower built into his costume' Jackie told them.

'Yeah, but does it say what happened to the guy inside?' Craig asked.

'Hang on… it says that the guy inside the costume was called Jason Roberts, and that he was catch when he tried to step up from robbing banks to robbing museums. He was caught and sent to prison for seven years'

'So he might be out by now?' the Doctor frowned.

'No, according to this Jason Roberts was killed in a prison riot' Jackie told him.

'Great, so we still have no idea who's behind this then' Mark sighed.

'Oh well, it was worth a try, thanks mum' Rose said before she hung up.

'So what now?' Mark wanted to know.

'Well there's nothing of use down here. Whoever built this place wasn't the Pterodactyl Ghost' the Doctor said as he began to walk towards the archway out.

'So who did?' Rose asked as she swiftly followed him. He was leading them back into the tunnel.

'Back up to the museum' the Doctor said, and in comfortably silence, the three humans followed him into the darkened tunnel.

…

After the long walk and climb back up the ladder, the Doctor slowly pushed the trap door upwards, just a crack so that he could see outside. There didn't seem to be anyone looking, so he hastily used the sonic to open the cabinet and climbed out into the cabinet. Rose, Craig, and Mark quickly followed him, and put the Darkest Knight back into position before someone saw them. Leaving the glass cabinet and sealing it behind them, they walked around the exhibition, trying to could up with another idea.

'Is it just me or are you getting colder?' Mark asked after a few minutes of silence.

'Is does feel a bit chilly compared to earlier' Craig agreed with a small shiver. Within seconds Mark had put his arm around Craig's shoulder and pulled him under his arms slightly to try and warm him up. Craig smiled slightly for a second, before he had to remind himself that Mark was not his anymore.

'Mark…' he sighed sadly and tiredly.

'I'm just trying to keep you warm' Mark shrugged but withdrew his arm regardless. Suddenly there was a loud rumbling sound from outside and over them. it was coming from the sky.

'Thunder?' Rose looked at the Doctor who nodded after a few seconds.

Suddenly all the windows were illuminated as lightning flashed over the building.

'And lightning' Craig commented as the thunder could be heard again, along with rain pouring down to the earth.

'I've never seen a storm move in so quickly' Mark commented as the rumbling got even closer. Without warning, the tallest window suddenly shattered,, raining glass down onto the guests and police, all of whom cried out in surprize.

'What the heck…?' Rose cried in shock.

'Lightning must have hit the window' Mark realised.

'But… what's that noise?' Craig asked fearfully. He could hear something else other than the thunder and the guests, a cold, menacing laughter, like someone was finding a lot of pleasure out of someone's pain. It made his stomach and heart freeze at the sound of it, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up.

'Citizens of Earth!' a voice yelled over the crowd. Looking up at the window, they could see that standing in its frame was a figure, shrouded in darkness. It was a man, but they couldn't see his face. He wore a golden mask with holes for his eyes and mouth, with long, almost snake-like, black hair protruding from it. He was wearing black robes and had four large black wings coming from his back. He had a long spindling staff in his hands, golden in colour, with a rearing snake head as the top of it. He was laughing at the chaos below him, and the Doctor had a sinking feeling that they had just found the murderer.

'I, the Masked Angel of London, will show you my power!' he taunted.

'Doctor, what the hell is he talking about?' Craig asked nervously.

The Doctor didn't get a chance to answer however, as the Masked Angel's staff glowed with a horrible green light for a moment, and then the sound of glass breaking could be heard again. Whipping around on the spot, the Doctor, Rose, Craig, and Mark watched, completely gobsmacked, as the Darkest Knight started to break out of its cabinet. By itself! The crowd all began screaming again, running for the doors where the police were trying to stop.

A ghoulish green glow surround the Darkest Knight as it chortled, breaking through the cabinet and raising its sword high over its head. A woman screamed in terror as the Knight charged at her, but she was lucky as the Knight wasn't aiming for her. It stuck it's sword into the cabinet behind her, the one with the Lightning Bolt Phantom inside it, before it shattered the cabinet and hoisted the costume onto its shoulder.

'What's it doing?' Mark asked in shock as he pulled Craig down behind another cabinet. The Doctor and Rose took cover behind a different one, trying to keep an eye on the Knight and the Angel at the same time.

'Yes, run and cower! For soon I will claim this city for my own!' the Masked Angel laughed again as the Knight turned to another cabinet. Once again he broke into it with his sword, and stole the costume inside. This one was the Pterodactyl Ghost. Chuckling again, the Darkest Knight strode onwards, causing many of the guests in its path to scream.

'Freeze! Put your hands in the air!' a policeman shouted, handing his asp up high. Laughing again, the Knight swung his sword, and to the room general horror, sliced the poor man in half. The screams got even louder as the rush to get out grow even more frantic.

Craig slowly moved around the cabinet, ignoring Mark hissing at him not too, and saw the Darkest Knight, still roaring with laughter, move into the lobby area and out of sight. Looking up, they saw that the Masked Angel has also disappeared from the window frame high above them.

'Come on' the Doctor whispered, pointing towards the cabinet which had been the Darkest Knight's. Craig understood immediately. They needed somewhere to hide, and where they could talk in private, and the tunnels or the chamber was the perfect place.

Craig scrambled to his feet, pulling Mark up with him, and together with the Doctor and Rose, they were soon back under the museum, climbing down the ladder and coming out in the tunnel below it where they stopped to talk.

'What the hell just happened?!' were the first words a very distressed Mark cried.

'Well, a costume in your exhibit just came to life and attacked' the Doctor put it bluntly.

'As they tend to do! I meant why, how?' Mark pressed on.

'I don't know! Why do humans always expect me to know before I've have a chance to work it out' the Doctor said indignantly.

'Craig, is this what you do now, crazy weird shit like this?!' Mark turned to the blonde man in question.

'It's not shit Mark, it's… brilliant, fantastic, and amazing, and normally all at the same time' Craig told him, his voice lined with wonder as the memories of all his other adventures crossed his mind.

'But… and the… the knight… it killed him! What about you! You could've been killed!' Mark spluttered.

'Yeah, but I wasn't' Craig shrugged. After all, the Knight hadn't come anywhere near him.

'Not yet, but if this… stuff is what you're getting mixed up in, how long before you do die?' Mark challenged him. Craig tried to hold his gaze, but in the end he turned away, unable to counter that one. It was true, one day, perhaps even soon; he could very easily die…

There was an awkward silence after that, until Rose was the one to break it with a surprized cry.

'Mum!' she cried, instantly pulling out her phone and calling Jackie for the second time that evening.

'Come on mum, come on! Pick it up!' Rose muttered fearfully. Not a moment too soon, the phone was answered.

'Rose!' Jackie cried into it.

'Oh mum thank god!' Rose breathed out.

'Where are you?' Rose asked quickly.

'I'm outside, but I can't find you' was Jackie's reply.

'That's because we're still inside. We're hiding underneath the museum. Once its dark we're going to sneak back up to look for clues' Rose explained, they had decided to do just that when they were climbing down.

'Rose, this isn't a game! Two people were murdered in this building tonight and you're talking like you're in Scooby doo' Jackie snapped.

'Sorry mum… the line's… going' Rose said, making hissing noises.

'Rose Tyler! Get your backside out here right now!' Jackie shouted before Rose hung up.

'Uh oh, we are so in for it later' Craig said with a smile as Rose returned her mobile to her pocket.

'So what do we do now?' Rose turned to the Doctor.

'We wait' was the simple reply.

…

And wait was exactly what they did. They waited for nearly three hours, some of it in silence, some of it talking. The Doctor would keep going up the ladder to check to see if the coast was clear, but there were still a lot of police moving around. Thankfully, none of them had yet to discover the secret tunnel under the Darkest Knight's plinth. In fact they seemed a little reluctant to approach it.

But eventually all the forensics and police officers and detectives went home for the night, leaving a silent and empty museum all locked up. Slowly and quietly, the four of them climbed back out of the cabinet and looked around at the now pitch black museum.

'Oh this place is creepy in the dark' Rose muttered as she rubbed her arms to try and keep warm. It was getting a little cold after all.

'So what do we do now Doctor?' Craig was the one to ask.

'Now, we look for clues' the Doctor said.

'Clues! OK Fred, me and Scooby will go this way whilst you and Daphne go that way' Craig said mockingly in response.

'Which one are you, Shaggy or Velma?' Rose giggled.

'Shaggy, duh' Craig stuck his tongue out at her.

'You know, you look more like Fred than I do' the Doctor commented.

'You three are unbelievable, we are currently trespassing in a museum which was attacked by an Angel and a Knight, and you're pretending we're in Scooby doo!' Mark glared at the three of them in turn.

'Oh chill out Scooby, or do you want a Scooby snack?' Rose laughed as he huffed.

'I just think that…' Mark started but was cut off by a loud noise. It sounded like a door being hacked apart, and moments later the sound of glass splintering could be heard.

'Quick, hide!' the Doctor whispered, and the four of them quickly ducked behind a cabinet as the doors to the exhibit suddenly burst open. This cabinet was the one with the Black Beard costume inside it. Craig was pressed up against the plague, and for a few moments he caught sight of the writing on it. Apparently this criminal had been called George Razzino, but more interestingly he had somehow disappeared before the police could catch him. All that had been found was the costume, completely empty. Somehow this seemed important, he didn't know why, it just did. But he didn't have the time to dwell on it for now.

The Doctor carefully poked his head around the cabinet to see the new arrival. It was the Darkest Knight, it had come back, and it wasn't alone. The Pterodactyl Ghost was screeching and flapping its wings, a ghostly green glow surrounding it. It too had been brought into existence in the same way as the Darkest Knight. On the other side was the now alive Lightning Bolt Phantom, the three of them cackling loudly as they slowly walked forwards through the aisle of exhibits.

'Soon these costumes shall become our brothers and sisters. Our Masked Angel will give us all the power to destroy this world, and all the others beyond!' the Darkest Knight chuckled whilst the Pterodactyl Ghost screeched and the Lightning Bolt Phantom cackled darkly.

They approached the first cabinet, the one with The Grey Enchantress inside. The Darkest Knight raised its sword high above his helmet head. It brought it down hard, smashing through the cabinet. The Pterodactyl Ghost lowered itself down and allowed the costume to fall onto its back so it was carrying it.

'They're stealing the other costumes' Rose hissed.

'And if they all come to life, we're in deep shit' Mark whispered back. They nervously watched as one by one the costumes were all taken, until they finally came to Black Beard's. The four of them held their breath nervously as the Darkest Knight prepared to shatter the glass.

They tried to stay quiet, they really did, but when the glass broke and rained down on them, Rose couldn't help but let out a small gasp of surprize, which unfortunately attracted the unwanted attention of the monsters in the room.

'Hmm… enjoying the show?' the Darkest Knight asked them almost casually, leaning around the cabinet to look at them.

'Shit' the Doctor whispered as the four of them stood up.

'It seems we have some witnesses to deal with' the Lightning Bolt Phantom cackled, a strange buzzing tone underlining his hissing voice.

'Indeed' the Darkest Knight nodded, before he brought his sword up high. Craig let out yelp as the knight aimed it at him.

'Goodbye' the Darkest Knight laughed.

'CRAIG!' Mark yelled as he pushed him to the side. There was a horrid squelching noise, followed by the sound of a blood splatter, and Craig looked at Mark in horror. The sword had missed him, but had hit Mark in the shoulder, forming a very deep wound there. With an even worse noise, the Knight withdrew his sword and aimed again, this time at Mark's head.

'RUN FOR IT!' the Doctor yelled, grabbing Rose's trembling hand and dragging her back out of the sword's reach.

'Mark!' Craig yelled as he rushed forwards, forcing Mark's arm around his own shoulder and trying to pull him out of the way. Mark groaned in pain as his blood fell down to the ground like water of a tin roof.

'Stay where you are!' the Lightning Bolt Phantom trilled a beam of lightning forming around his hand. He pointed a finger at Craig and Mark, who managed to duck out of the way as the phantom fired a bolt of lightning from his finger, leaving a scorch mark on the wall it had hit instead.

'Come on' Craig panted as he dragged Mark after the Doctor and Rose, who were running ahead of him. Mark was trying to help, but he was bleeding heavily, and was losing consciousness fast. They were near the entrance as the Pterodactyl Ghost swooped at them, missing their heads by inches. And still they kept going, desperate to get away.

They reached the lobby, and carried onto the main doors, dodging more lightning bolts raining down after them. Once Craig had dragged Mark out, he turned back to the doors, where the Doctor and Rose were.

'NOW!' he yelled and they slammed them shut, the Doctor using the sonic to lock them. They breathed a sigh of relieve, before it turned to fear again as the sound of the wood being ripped apart could be heard, and seconds later, the end of the sword burst through one of the doors.

'Come on!' the Doctor cried as he raced forwards and put Mark's other arm around his shoulder, and with Craig helping, they managed to drag the injured man much faster. They fled the scene of the museum as fast as they could, not completely sure what they had just left behind. All the Doctor knew was that he needed to stop this now, before it all went too far.

**...**

**And there's another one! Right, first things first, I wanna say a massive thank you to all my wonderful readers. 400 Reviews! I never thought when I started this I'd get that many so I want to thank everyone for reading this and showing your support, it means a lot : ) And since I'm in such a good mood, I'm going to answer a few things brought up in reviews, and just some other things.**

**Firstly, to the guest which is always hinting that they want to see a Jimmy Stone story, you win, you've twisted my arm. But it won't be in this story, it could be in series 2 or possibly series 3, depending on what I come up with. I've got a few ideas for it, and I'm thinking it'll probably work best in series 3, so I hope you're willing to wait.**

**Next, a few people seem to dislike Mark. The character I had in mind adores Craig deeply, but always can't let go of the past, and therefore hurts our resident blonde man in the process. Plus, he's kind of a jerk because he went on the rebound with a woman and had a kid, and yet he still wants Craig. Oh well, Craig has a pattern of attracting jerks, hem hem, Slitheen. But it'll get made up to him in the sequel I promise : )**

**And as a special treat, I'm going to do something I normally won't and give you a little spoiler. A lot of people keep asking me about what my plans for Rose are, and whilst I'm not going to give any definites, I will offer you all one hint;**

**In the next chapter, Craig will make a little joke about London Landmarks. Pay attention to what Rose and the Doctor say. I wonder if anyone will possibly pick up on what I'm hinting at ; ) Just don't expect me to confirm anything because I'll deny everything : ) Also, go look at my other Doctor Who story, specifically what the character Owog says to Rose. I love putting in little hints about the stories to come and I've put quite a lot in already.**

**But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you bare these points in mine, and as always, Reviews, thoughts, and ideas are always welcome. Read on faithful readers.**


	63. The Darkest Knight, The Monster Invasion

**Hello! Wow, I've gotta say, 21 reviews for the last chapter, that's great! Thank you everyone! But I'll talk more about them at the end : ) So, onto part three, and all there is to say is please note that Doctor Who is not mine, but Craig Tyler and this adventure are : ) Hope you enjoy!**

**...**

**The Darkest Knight – The Monster Invasion**

'Come on, come on, move it!' the Doctor hissed impatiently as his hammered his finger against the doorbell to the Tyler residence. The bell was buzzing constantly, but they were still locked out. Craig and Rose had left their house keys in the Tardis when they had got changed, and now they were stuck outside.

'Alright!' they heard Jackie protest from the other side of the door. As soon as the key in the lock turned, the Doctor forced the door open and pushed his way inside, helping Craig drag the now unconscious Mark with him.

'What the hell are you… What happened?!' Jackie shrieked in alarm as blood dripped down onto her carpets. The Doctor and Craig both ignored her, opting to focus on Mark, so it was left to Rose to hastily fill her in. she mouth dropped open in shock when she heard how it was a now alive costume which had stabbed Mark, but she was even more shocked to hear that the injury had only occurred when Mark saved her son's life.

Now the four of them were gathered around the sofa, which Craig was kneeling beside, running the Sonic Screwdriver over the wound and wrapping it tightly in a bandage. He then took to dabbing Mark's forehead with an ice pack wrapped in a T-Towel. The Doctor was pacing up and down, now doubt wondering how the Darkest Knight could possibly have come to life, Rose was flicking through the news channels, which were telling them about the murders at the museum; a bit redundant for them since they already knew everything reported, and Jackie was making them all a strong cup of tea.

Craig sighed slightly, but then he knelt up straighter as Mark's eyes began to flicker open.

'Mark!' he cried happily as Mark looked tiredly up at him.

'…Craig… where?' he said weakly. His voice sounded cracked, so Craig quickly ordered Jackie to bring in a glass of water. When she did, he gently lifted it up and poured some into Mark's mouth.

'Hush now. It's alright, you're at my mum's flat, we're safe' Craig said gently, trying to reassure him as he took the glass away.

'What about that knight?'

'It's gone' the Doctor informed him from his position by the glass window, which he was leaning against.

'And how are you?' Mark turned back to Craig.

'Me? I'm fine… right now concentrate on you' Craig lightly scolded him. He inwardly sighed as he thought about how like Mark that was. Too worry about him when _he_ was the one hurt.

'You were the one who nearly had his head cut off' Mark weakly chuckled, before he groaned in pain as he tried to move his arm.

'Stop moving! And you were the one who _did_ get stabbed, so shut up and lie still' Craig told him, dabbing at his forehead with the cloth again. He looked down at him, his guilt written on his face, and Mark looked up at him in concern.

'What's wrong? Why do you have that look on your face?' he asked the blonde.

'What look?' Craig quickly rearranged his face to look confused instead of guilty, not that it fooled Mark in the slightest.

'Why do you look so guilty?' he asked and Craig sighed. Mark hadn't been fooled at all.

'Because you getting stabbed was all my fault. This is my life now Mark and I dragged you into it' he whispered sadly, holding the weakened man's hand. He suddenly used his other hand to pull Craig's shirt down to him, to whisper in his ear.

'Craig… I… still love' he whispered. Craig blinked. He had guessed from everything Mark had said and done that night that he still had feelings for him, but love… but that was wrong. He was married now! He had a daughter! But if Craig was honest with himself… he'd missed Mark, because he still loved him too.

'I… Mark I never stopped… loving you' Craig whispered out. Mark opened his mouth to reply, but he never got the chance, because Rose suddenly cried out in alarm.

'Oh my god!' she cried from the armchair she was sitting in. the Doctor, Jackie and Craig and Mark all turned towards her, and then at the TV which she was pointing in shock.

'I repeat, if you can hear this, stay in your homes! A Monster Army has invaded London!' the news-reporter was saying in a frantic tone in an urgent bulletin. They eyes all widened as the screen changed from the man and showed the Pterodactyl Ghost swooping down on people in a busy high-street, causing them to scream and start to flee. The image changed to show the Rapid Rabbit Brothers running at unbelievable speed across Westminster Bridge. Then it changed again, and they watched as the Lightning Bolt Phantom set up huge lightning bolts that rained down on the screaming citizens, killing many instantly and severely shocking others. The next image showed Black Beard swiping at a young woman with his sword, slashing her throat. The camera drew back as Black beard turned to face it.

'Sorry, but your show's been axed' He grinned evilly, before he raised his sword up high, and the screen turned to static. Rose turned off the TV and looked around at the Doctor, unease and fear in her face.

'We've got to stop this' she whispered. The Doctor looked at her silently, completely at a loss of what to do.

'Those were all costumes, so that Angel has to have done something to make them come to life' Mark said as he strained to push himself upright. Craig helped him into a more comfortable position.

'So… if we could follow them back to the angel…' Craig started.

'We find out what the Angel did, and how to reverse' the Doctor finished whilst nodding. He grinned as he turned to his companions.

'Come on then' he grinned as he headed for the front door. Rose was quick to follow, but Craig wasn't, seeing as he was trying to stop Mark from standing up.

'Let go Craig! I work for the Museum, this is my mess, I wanna be there!' Mark was protesting as he struggled against Craig.

'You are in no fit condition to go anywhere. You are staying right here, and Mum will be looking after you'

'Oh no she's not. If you two or going off into danger then I'm going with you' Jackie was quick to argue. The Doctor almost growled in frustration, he really didn't have time for this domestic situation.

'Mum, you can't. Please, stay here' Rose tried but it was no good.

'I'm going and that's final. Mark, sit down' Jackie ordered as she pushed past Rose and the Doctor to get to the front door.

'Craig, let me go!' Mark shouted again as he managed to push Craig off and he started towards the door.

'Mark Stevenson!' Craig growled at him as he followed him, just as Jackie opened the door and stepped out. The Doctor and Rose joined her, and Mark followed them out, with Craig right behind him.

'Go back inside Mark, I don't want you in danger' Craig growled at him.

'And I don't want you to be, but you wouldn't stay behind would you?' Mark shot at him and Craig sighed, he was right, Craig wouldn't stay where it was safe if it meant he could help others.

'Listen, we don't have time for this, we need to find one of the Masked Angel's monsters as soon as possible' the Doctor reminded them to the crisis at hand.

'And that might be sooner than you think' a cold cruel voice sneered, and jumping around, the five of them saw the Grey Enchantress hovering up from the other side of the balcony they were on. She laughed coldly at the shocked looks on their faces.

'I… err…' the Doctor stuttered as the group backed away from her up the corridor. She merely smirked and hovered towards them though.

'What's the matter, are you afraid or little old me, I won't hurt you darlings, you can't hurt people of stone' she said in a mockingly sweet tone before she laughed cruelly and her eyes glowed silver. Then out of them burst two silvery grey beams, which hit Jackie and Mark squarely in the face. They both yelled out, before they had completely turned to stone!

'Mum! Mark!' Craig cried in horror as he looked at the statues which resembled his terrified mother and ex-fiancé. The Grey Enchantress laughed loudly and madly before she turned back to taunting them.

'Oh don't worry pretty boy, you'll be joining them very soon' she giggled before she eyes glowed again. The Doctor quickly grabbed Rose's hand.

'RUN!' he yelled and the three of them ran for it. The two petrifying beams missed them, but formed a large patch of stone on the wall of the flats, where they had been standing not a second before.

'Oh what fun, a like game of cat and mouse. Stay still now little mice' she laughed as he flew after them, trying to hit them with her stony gaze. The Doctor led them around a corner where Rose broke free from his grip and turned around. The Doctor and Craig stopped and turned back to see why she had stopped.

As soon as the Grey Enchantress turned the corner Rose swung her fist out as hard as she could. Their chaser groaned in pain as Rose's fist connected with her stomach, which Rose noticed was completely fleshed out now.

'That's for my mum' Rose hissed before they were off running again.

'You'll pay for that!' the Grey Enchantress shrieked as she fired her attack again, but missed as the three time travellers ducked into the stairwell.

'Rose Tyler, you never fail to amaze me' the Doctor laughed proudly at her.

'I do my best' Rose grinned as they reached the bottom of the stairs and ran out into the court yard. The Grey Enchantress was high in the air above them, but they managed to give her the slip as they ducked into the next street. Once they were at the other end and far from the Powell estate, they slowed their pace and panted for air.

'But Mum, and Mark, can we help them?' Craig wanted to know.

'I don't know Craig, I'm sorry, I just don't know' the Doctor shook his head guilty.

'Oh god…' Craig turned away, tears forming in his eyes. The Doctor quickly strode over to him and placed his hands on the tearful man's shoulders, looking him directly in the eye.

'I'll do whatever it takes. I'll find a way, I promise… hey… I promise' the Doctor repeated when Craig didn't response. Craig gave a short nod and the Doctor smiled at him.

'Right, we still need to find out where the Masked Angel's base is' the Doctor said.

'It has to be somewhere close by, close enough for the monsters to all spread out from' Rose reasoned.

'Good point, so… somewhere close to the museum, and close to here. Well, most of the monsters were in crowded areas, so where's crowded around her at this time of night' the Doctor asked.

'Err… I don't know the high-street' Craig shrugged, wiping at his eyes.

'Well that's where we'll go then' the Doctor nodded, and soon they were off running again.

…

As the three of them made their way up the normally busy high-street, they couldn't help but notice that it was completely deserted, and in a terrible state. Thick cracks ran along the pavement and road, windows had their glass shattered, rubbish littered almost every inch of the floor, and in some places, there was even blood and… torn off flesh. Rose was nearly sick when they saw the first corpse, but the Doctor gently pushed her along so that she wasn't looking at it.

They jumped slightly when they heard something further up the street, and the Doctor quickly grabbed both their arms and pulled Rose and Craig into a very dark alley. They peered around the wall into the high-street, and Rose let out a little gasp at what they saw. A few feet ahead of their alleyway was The Darkest Knight laughing darkly at the destruction around him.

'It's him…' she whispered.

'I know' the Doctor nodded. They watched as the Darkest Knight began to march away towards the other end of the street, and the Doctor silently crept out but into the street to keep him in their line of view. Craig and Rose were quick to follow him, and together the silently followed the Knight to his destination.

…

And that destination was rather surprizing to them once they had arrived. There was in front of Westminster Abbey, looking up at its beautiful architecture, it many ornamental arches and reaching towers.

'What's the Darkest Knight doing here?' Craig asked in a hushed tone.

'No idea, but look' the Doctor pointed at the Knight who was ahead of them, and thankfully still hadn't seen them. they watched as the Darkest Knight knelt down and pulled up a pavement slab, but judging from the chain dangling down beneath it, it was really a hidden entrance of some sort, like the shrine back in the museum. They watched the Knight climb down through the hole in the ground, before the pavement slab crashed down, back in its original place. If you didn't know the entrance was there, you'd simply walk right over it.

'Come on' the Doctor said, rushing forwards to the whole.

'Hold on though, we have no idea what's down there' Rose pointed out.

'True, but we could find the answer to stopping the monsters and saving Mark and Jackie down there' the Doctor countered.

'Then I'm going' Craig said, pushing past the Doctor and Rose and digging his fingers down the crack beneath the pavement slab and the next. He struggled with it for a moment, but after a few seconds managed to heave the heavy stone up, revealing the entrance to them.

Then without missing a beat, the blonde man began to climb down a ladder into the darkness. The Doctor smiled slightly, god that boy was determined when he wanted to be!

He waited until Craig was far enough down and then began climbing down himself, and with a small sigh, Rose followed them, pulling on the chain to close the entrance again.

'So then, the London Eye, Downing Street, Big Ben, and now Westminster Abbey, what next?' Craig called up to them jokingly to try and break the silence.

'Oh I don't know, Buckingham Palace' the Doctor responded cheekily.

'Or the Thames Flood Barrier?' Rose giggled.

'But what do you think is down here?' she then asked, bringing the conversation back to seriousness.

'Could be another shrine or maybe where the monsters are made in the first place' the Doctor said, just as Craig reached the bottom of the ladder. There they found a short tunnel which only took them a few minutes to walk down, but it took them right underneath the abbey when they reached the end of it. They were in a tiny area, but there was a tightly wound door just in front of them. And once the Doctor and Rose had reached the bottom too, they grabbed the circular handle and with a huge effort, managed to heave it round until the door unlocked. The three of them braced themselves, before they cautiously stepped inside.

…

The three of them looked around in wonder. In comparison to the dark tunnels, the inside of the room was rather well lit, and its shinning white walls and flooring tiles certainly made it seem brighter still. The room was filled with desks all with strange apparatus set upon them. Huge bubbling tanks filled with different coloured liquids, all connected by tubes that ran around the floor. There was a huge sort of pod at the end of the room, and inside it, set on a strange plinth was a circular disk with many different lights, buttons, and levers on it. To Craig, it looked like a tiny Tardis console, but much less impressive.

'What's all this lot for?' Rose asked wonderingly aloud.

'I think we've found where the monsters are made' the Doctor said quietly as he approached one of the tanks. He looked at the bubbling liquid inside it, before he nodded and went to another, and another.

'They're making some kind of catalyse, something with is filling the costumes out to response like a living thing, but there doesn't seem to be anything to create the actual life form's consciousness, only formulating the powers that the costumes were meant to possess' the time lord muttered to himself aloud as he paced around the room. Craig and Rose just watched him thoughtfully, not really sure what he was talking about.

'They make the costume's container's for something else, another life form needing a body… or… extensions of one being's mind… THAT'S IT!' he cried suddenly, making Rose and Craig jump slightly as he turned to face them.

'What is?' Rose asked her hand over her heart to stop its mad beating.

'The thing behind all this is using the costumes to become parts of itself, by implanting part of itself into them it can control them… feel through them' the Doctor grinned, happy to have part of the mystery solved. Of course there were still two huge questions left and of course Rose and Craig would ask them both.

'Yeah… but what is it?' Craig asked.

'And why… and why terrorise the city?' Rose added.

'What's behind this, I don't know, but the second question, I do have an idea as to why. When we were in the museum the Masked Angel said that he would claim the city as his own… but why would he want the city…?' the Doctor asked the last part to himself quietly. He frowned thoughtfully before the answer hit him.

'He wants to implant his consciousness into every human on the planet. Just imagine it, having total and complete control over an entire species… you could make them build missiles and rockets and all sort of things, ready to go to a war' the Doctor whispered in horror at the situation that was rising up.

'Shit' Craig whispered as his eyes widened, and the Doctor's span around on the spot as a door opened behind.

'Excellent skills of deduction, I must say, but you are too late, the invasion of London is nearing completion' the Masked Angel commented as he strode into the room.

'And what does that mean?' the Doctor demanded of the masked figure, without missing a beat in his surprize.

'Soon they will be rounding up the population, ready to have my will pressed onto them. They will become my soldiers, and from this city they will go onto passing my mind onto everyone else, until this entire planet belongs to me' the angel hissed.

'Hum, very busy schedule, but of course there's only one problem' the Doctor said in a mockingly impressed voice.

'Oh, and what might that be' the Angel said coolly.

'First you have to get through me' the Doctor said calmly. At this the Angel smirked slightly.

'That won't take too long' he laughed as he snapped his fingers. Instantly in a flash of bright green light, figures appeared all around them.

All of them were there. The Darkest Knight, The Lightning Bolt Phantom, The Grey Enchantress, The Pterodactyl Ghost, Black Beard, The Bad Wolf, and The Rabid Rabbit Brothers. There were in a circle around them, completely trapping the three of them.

'Ah' the Doctor sighed as the monsters all laughed darkly at the situation the three of them were in.

'You just had to say that didn't you' Rose sighed softly.

'You see mere humans, I am far superior to you, although you are quite clever, I should have taken your mind' the Angel said to the Doctor, who raised an eyebrow in confusion.

'And what's that supposed to mean?' he asked in a harsh tone. Instead of answering, the Angel pulled at his mask until it came off, revealing a man, but he was nothing like a human being, not anymore.

The skin was red raw and flaking off as where the top of the head was, a huge brain like object sat, fully exposed and a sort of brown colour. It was joint to the man's head with large burns and it seemed to have taken control, if the man's blank eye were anything to go by.

'Doctor, what is it?' Rose asked as she tried not to gag at the disgusting sight.

'It's a parasite, it needs a host to survive so it forces itself into the mind of another and fuses itself to the flesh…' the Doctor said quietly, his wide eyes still on the human-alien hybrid before them.

'Who was he?' the Doctor wanted to know, anger in his tone.

'Oh he was just a criminal low-life on this planet. I believe he went by the name of George Razzino' the hybrid shrugged, like the man meant nothing, which sadly to the alien parasite he probably did.

Craig's eyes widened. That was the man who was in the Black Beard costume; the one who had disappeared out of his costume before the police could catch him. This explained it; Razzino must have been transported by the alien in the same way he had called the monsters to them, before it infused with his body… the poor man.

'Now I do believe we have talked for long enough. Now there is only one think left to say. KILL THEM!' he yelled and all the monsters roared before as one, they charged at the them, ready to kill.

**...**

**And there's the third part! So, Jackie and Mark are stone, and the Doctor, Rose, and Craig have to deal with an army of angry monsters! Oh dear! Now, onto reviews : )**

**First of all, I want to thank everyone who takes the time to review this story, it means a lot, so thank you all. And secondly, a few of the reviews for the last chapter were questions about the ending to this story.**

**Well Done to Cirodil and IndigoWinter, you both made some clever and accurate guesses. A lot of what Cirodil suggested is what I have planned, but still, there are a few bits in there which nobody has guessed right yet, so there's still some surprizes in store which I hope nobody sees coming : )**

**This time I'm hoping that somebody will take note of my clue last time, and might have picked up on the answer, but don't expect me to confirm it, you'll just have to wait and see : )**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and see you next time for the final part of the Darkest Knight. Read on my faithful readers!**


	64. The Darkest Knight, The Pain of Love

**And here's the last part : ) Thank you to everyone that reviewed the last chapter, not much to say other than whilst Craig Tyler and this adventure are mine own, Doctor Who is not. Read on at your own risk, because this could be the darkest night...**

**...**

**The Darkest Knight – The Pain of Love**

The monsters were just mere inches away from the three of them when the Doctor brought up his sonic screwdriver and held it above his head. With a press of the button and a smug smile, it let out a horrible shrill buzzing sound which shattered the glass of the many tanks in the lab, causing them to rain glass down on them all. In the monsters moment of distraction, the Doctor lunged forwards and grabbed a toolbox left on one of the desks, and from out of it he drew a large wrench.

The Darkest Knight, being closest to him, brought his sword up just in time as the Doctor tried to strike him with the tool in his hands, managing to block the Doctor's attempt.

Rose and Craig both mirrored his attacks as all the other monsters closed the circle around them. Rose had a long silvery spanner in her grasp, Craig a large metal hammer. They raised both their weapons threateningly as the monsters started their assault.

'Take this, ya varmints' Black Beard roared as he attempted to slash at Craig with his sword. Craig used the hammer to keep the sword back, before he pushed with all his strength, forcing the pirate's arm back. In that moment, Craig took a swung at Black Beard head with the hammer, who managed to duck in time. But he didn't see Craig's foot come up, before the blonde kicked him in the stomach, and he knelled backwards and fell in pain.

Meanwhile, Rose was trying to keep the Grey Enchantress back. It wasn't easy considered that she also had the Lightning Bolt Phantom behind her. She had to keep dodging lightning bolts whilst the Enchantress cackled and taunted her.

'You can't dance forever pretty, in fact, I doubt you'll be moving at all' she laughed cruelly, seemingly entertained but wanting the show to finish now. Rose's eyes widened as her eyes turned grey. She knew what she was about to do. Behind her, she heard the Lightning Bolt Phantom charging up another attack. She ducked just as they both fired. They were a huge bang and a cloud of black smoke, and when it cleared, Rose could see the Grey Enchantress out cold on the floor, electricity crackling over her body, and the Lightning Bolt Phantom was encased in stone. She grinned slightly, before hurrying over to help Craig who was now trying to keep swinging at both the Bad Wolf and the Pterodactyl Ghost.

Whilst his companions did that, the Doctor was now engaged in a sword fight with the Darkest Knight. Or at least, he was using the wrench to fight back, blocking the sword and trying to strike back when he could. It lasted for a few minutes, and he tried not to get distracted by the Rabid Rabbit Brother had had tried to ran him down by moving like big pink blurs at him. But they weren't too bright, and ended up crashing head first knocking themselves out.

'I won't let you win' the Doctor stated as he pushed the sword away again. Suddenly the Darkest Knight raised his fist to punch him, but it was a decoy, which unfortunately worked. In the Doctor's distraction, the Darkest Knight knocked the wrench out of his hand, sending it clattering across the floor.

'Oh really, because you've just lost' the Knight cackled as he aimed to stab the Doctor, who barely managed to step out of the way in time. But in his haste, he stumbled and fell to the ground. His eyes widened as he saw the Knight's metal boot flying at his head, he felt a sickening pain and heard a loud crunch, before he fell into darkness.

…

'DOCTOR!' Rose shrieked as she saw him fall unconscious as the Darkest Knight kicked him in the face. She dashed over to his side, whilst the Masked Angel, who had put his mask back on during the fight, chuckled darkly before snapping his fingers. Instantly the monsters that were still targeting their prey fell back and stood completely still.

Rose and Craig knelt down beside him, the latter pressing his fingers against his best friend's neck. Craig sighed in relieve as he felt a pulse beating away. Then an angry look overtook his face as he stood up and turned to face the Masked Angel, glaring heatedly at the smirking creature.

'So what happens now?' he demanded as he stormed towards the angel, who just laughed darkly.

'Now, my monsters will begin the conversion, and once this planet is mine, I will return to my home planet and the revolution shall begin' he said smugly.

'Wait, you're trying to take over your own planet?' Rose blinked in surprize.

'Oh yes, you see the government there has a particularly nasty way of disposing of its opponents. They reduce them to nothing but mere parasite. Forced to life of others, it's disgusting. I want to return there and show them what it's like to be reduced to this… nothingness' the Angel explained coolly.

'And you're willing to ruin the lives of every human being just to achieve that?' Craig spat disgustedly. The Angel leant forwards slightly, trying to emphasize his answer.

'Yes' he hissed before cackling wickedly.

Craig's eyes widened slightly, in both anger and in horror. This thing didn't care at all! He didn't care that a man had been decapitated, still alive and screaming. He didn't care about thee damage he had cause all over the city. He didn't care that right now, Jackie and Mark were held in stone, maybe even permanently so. All he cared about was his stupid petty revenge!

'You are warped, you know that?! Completely Warped!' he yelled as he took a step back. He then knelt down and grabbed the Doctor, his arm wrapped around his waist as he put the Time Lord's arm around his own neck. Then he hoisted him off the ground.

'Come on, we're going' he said to Rose.

'You two aren't going anywhere' the Angel snarled. He clicked his fingers again, and once more the monsters all charged at them.

'RUN!' Rose screamed as the monsters closed in on them. She quickly moved over to the Doctor's other side and helped to drag him towards the exit. But suddenly the Pterodactyl Ghost swooped past them, blocking their escape route and forcing them to change course.

They staggered across the lab, moving along the wall to try and keep the distance between them and their attackers. They moved towards the other end of the room, the remaining monsters drawing ever closer, when they staggered over to where the pod.

'NO! GET THEM AWAY FROM THERE!' the Angel shouted, suddenly shouting terrified. Craig frowned in confusion. Why was the angel so afraid of them being near the pod? The only logic answer was that it was very important to his plans, and if that was the case, it was exactly where they needed to be.

'Inside!' Craig shouted to Rose, who nodded as she helped him pull the Doctor into the pod. Then she climbed in too and slammed the door behind her. it was very tight with the three of them packed in, especially with the plinth and circuit in the centre, but that was the least of their concerns.

They could hear the angel screaming at the monsters to get them out of there, and smirking slightly, Craig quickly bolted the entrance shut and grabbed the sonic from the Doctor's pocket, using it to fuse the door shut. It sparked slightly, but remained firmly shut.

'Oh great, we're trapped' Rose muttered sarcastically.

'Thin about it, the angel was terrified of us being in this pod, why? The Doctor said it has something to do with creating the monsters, maybe… these are the controls' Craig said, gesturing at the circuit.

'So… if this thing allowed the parasite to implant itself into the costumes to become part of its life force… maybe it can reverse it, maybe it can destroy them all' Rose grinned as she caught onto what her brother was saying.

'Exactly! I'm betting all we have to do is reverse the flow of it or something' Craig beamed at her as the crouched down to get a better look at the control unit. It was very tight, and they could hardly move, but eventually they managed to get the front of the plinth off, revealing more lights and a tangle of wires. At that moment, there came a repetitive banging from outside, metal against metal, like a sword was being smashed into the pod's heavy metal door again and again.

'Well it sounds like the Knight wants to get in' Rose drily commented.

'Yeah great, but how do we know what to do?' Craig sighed slightly, gesturing at the wiring that he had no idea about the workings of. Mechanics had never really been his strong point, he'd always just go mickey to help him when he needed it.

'You might not, but I do' Rose grinned at him, causing her brother to looked at her bewilderedly.

'Mickey! He showed me a ton of mechanics, I think I know how to reverse the polarity of this' Rose beamed up at his questioning look.

'Fantastic, well get started then!' Craig grinned in delight.

'Right, hold this wire here' she commanded, pulling on a long blue wire. Craig did as he was told, and few several minutes, that's how things would go. Rose kept on pulling out wires and placing them in different circuits, amazing Craig in the process at just how much she actually knew about mechanic, Mickey had taught her very well indeed.

…

'There!' Rose cried after a few minutes. It was lucky too, the door was already dented and was starting to give way; it wouldn't take long for the Darkest Knight to get through.

'So what now?' Craig asked her anxiously. She slid her way up the wall so that she was standing, and pressed a large blue button on the circuit panel on the top of the plinth. The entire contraption started the hum quietly, sounding like it was starting up.

'Now it just needs to charge up and it'll be ready' she told him.

'God I hope this works' Craig muttered. He had every faith in Rose's intelligence, seeing as it had been Mickey who had taught her and both of them were very smart, but still, with the fate of the planet on the line he just hoped that his baby sister was good enough to pull this off. Especially for his mum and Mark's sake if nothing else.

'If it doesn't we're sunk' she whispered fearfully.

At that moment, there was one final loud clang against the door, and it swung open to reveal the Darkest Knight standing there, his sword in his hand, a triumphant look on his face.

'Ah, finally, now the game comes to an end for you' the Knight chuckled darkly as he saw their scared faces.

'Wait, just, just, hold on! If we're going to die, what's the harm in telling us the final piece of the puzzle?' Rose cried at him. Craig blinked slightly.

'What are you doing?' he hissed to her so that the Knight couldn't hear him.

'Keeping us alive a bit longer' she whispered back, eyeing the sword apprehensively.

'And what might the final piece be?' the Knight asked, sounding amused.

'Well, the shrine of course, who built that, and why?' she asked. It was the only thing she could think of, play for time and just hope that the console would charge up in time.

'Oh that?' Well you see, this costume hold traces of memory' the Knight said, indicating to himself.

'The man that our Masked Angel told control of… his Half-brother was a man called Riley Summers, but he also went by another name, The Pterodactyl Ghost' he grinned menacingly at them. Both Rose and Craig frowned slightly, very confused.

'So, the two of them were half-brothers, The Pterodactyl Ghost and Black Beard… but what does this have to do with the shrine?' Craig asked curiously.

'Well, the owner of this body was their mentor, so they built the shrine as a mark of respect to him' the Knight explained.

'So the shrine is for Jason Robert's?' Rose asked to confirm.

'Yes, but the shrine was still incomplete when our angel fused with Razzino, and he altered the design to get him into the museum to get to the costumes, to allow his greatest will to become a reality' the knight declared. Both Rose and Craig looked at each other. At least everything made sense now.

'So there, your final puzzle piece, satisfied? And now I do believe that your time is up' he chuckled as he raised his sword again. Suddenly there was a beeping tone on the panel behind them, and without even pausing to think, Rose slammed her hand down on a large red button in the centre.

There was a huge crackling bang and a blinding flash of light which exploded outwards, and a rushing force which knocked both Rose and Craig to the ground. They looked up to see the Darkest Knight scream and warp as he fell to his knees and appear to melt, before he fell to the ground and didn't move. It was once again nothing but a costume.

There came a series of loud screams and bangs outside, and struggling to their feet, the two Tylers rushed outside to see the Pterodactyl Ghost fall to the ground, saw the Bad Wolf stumble and revert back to a costume, along with all the other monsters in the room, all except the Masked Angel.

He was writhing on the ground, shrieking and screaming in pain as blood seeped out from under his mask, streaking across the white floor and leaving a large pool of scarlet which was slowly creeping outwards. Craig felt a small sense of justice flowing through him, for his mum, the man who had been killed, and especially for Mark. They watched in disgust as the Angel let out one final scream, and then he moved no more. It didn't become a mere costume though, because it was a living being inside it, not just an extension like the others had been.

'You did it Rose' Craig said softly too her.

'Yeah… yeah I did' she smiled weakly as Craig pulled her into a huge hug. she laughed slight as the hug was so enthusiastic that Craig picked her up and span her around on the spot for a moment.

'Thank you so much' he whispered in her ear as he put her down, but even then he kept her close in his arms.

'For what?' she asked confusedly.

'This one… got to me more than it normally would' Craig said softly as they broke apart. Rose peered up at his face curiously, before it clicked in her mind, why this adventure was so personal to him.

'Mark' she said and Craig nodded.

'I just, I didn't want him to get hurt. And then he did… I don't know, I just felt…' he trailed of thoughtfully.

'You wanted justice for him' she said and he nodded slowly.

'Well you got it, the parasite's dead, earth safe, and soon, Mum and Mark will be too' she said cheerfully. That got Craig to smile slightly.

'Yeah, all thanks to you' he beamed at her, and her grin widened.

'You know, I really wanted things to work for you and Mark' she commented softly.

'I know, but… it just wasn't meant to be' Craig shrugged.

'Maybe… but I'm sure there'll be somebody else for you, someone it will work with' she said with certainty.

'Maybe… one day' he nodded, appreciating his sister trying to cheer him up.

'Anyway, best go wake sleeping beauty in there up and tell him it's all over' she joked, causing Craig to laugh, as they both went back into the pod to wake the Doctor.

…

It had taken them nearly five full minutes to wake the Doctor up, something they had both teased him about, and then they had explain what had happened and what they had done. He was very impressed by Rose and had of course swept her up into a proud victory hug. He went onto explain that although the blast itself shouldn't have killed the parasite, the severing of the link to the costumes most likely had caused that to happen, but regardless, the earth was safe and sound and it was all thanks to her.

They had then gathered up all the costumes and had dropped them off at the museum entrance on their way back to the Powell Estate. At least once they were found the exhibition could go back to normal. And to their delight, or at least Craig and Rose's, Jackie and Mark were both back to normal, the Doctor explaining that the effects of the monster's power had clearly worn of when they were destroyed.

So after a quick explanation of what had happened to Jackie, who was shocked to discovered that she had been turned to stone, but was happy that her amazing daughter had saved the planet once again, they were now standing right outside the Tardis in the Powell Estate courtyard, the Doctor having flown it there when they had visited the museum to drop off the costumes.

'Oh, I wish we didn't have to keep doing this' Jackie sighed as she hugged Rose close.

'I know mum, but it's what me and Craig want' Rose said softly as they broke apart and Craig moved into hug their mother.

'Yeah, but I just wish you'd see the dangers' Jackie sighed.

'Now Jackie, you know I'll stop at nothing to protect them' the Doctor was quick to point out before she went too far.

'Well, I suppose I do trust you, but I still don't have to like it' Jackie turned to him, a small smile present but the usual look in her eyes, naming saying 'If they get hurt because of you, I'll kill you' without saying the words.

'Don't worry mum, just look forward to the next time' Craig grinned at her as they broke apart.

'What, when you bring even more alien trouble with you?' she asked him bemusedly.

'Yeah, you could end up on a spaceship next time, taking you back home to your planet' Craig teased her.

'You cheeky thing' she laughed as she slapped her son lightly around the head, who laughed at her reaction.

'Anyway, see you later Jackie' the Doctor said as he went into the Tardis.

'Bye mum' Rose smiled at her as she followed. Craig's eyes drifted over to Mark, who had been leaning against a wall, watching the scene but remaining silent. Jackie turned and followed his gaze, before she nodded in understanding at her son.

'Take care of her Craig, and yourself' she said, kissing him on the cheek before she began to walk away, heading for the stairs to give Craig and Mark some privacy to say their goodbye.

'So, is this it then… you're going to get into that box, and what?' Mark asked, jerking his head in the direction of the Tardis.

'Keep on travelling' Craig replied softly.

'And are you coming back?' Mark asked with a raised eyebrow. Craig knew what he meant, but didn't want to answer the real question, so he took it a different way.

'Yeah… to see my mum and stuff' he shrugged.

'That's not what I meant and you know it! I meant, will I ever be seeing you again?' Mark asked him, looking him directly in the eye. And as much as Craig wanted to, he just couldn't lie, not to Mark.

'No, I think this is the last time we'll ever see each other' he whispered, tears starting to well up in his eyes.

'Why… I mean, you could visit me' Mark said, his own tears forming now.

'Because Mark, you have a wife and child now, I have no place in your life now' Craig shook his head

'But it still not right, I mean, you and me, we were meant to be together' Mark countered with.

'No Mark, we're not. That's it, we couldn't have a family together, and that's the end of it. Now you go back to your life, you forget all about me, because that way it'll be easy for you to live the life you're supposed to' Craig said, his tears falling freely now.

'You were my life, always' Mark said, sounding really choked up as he closed the distance between them. And as much as Craig knew he shouldn't, he just couldn't help himself, just one last time. He pressed his lips to Mark's and entwined his fingers through Mark's hair. Mark responded to the kiss passionately and put his arms around Craig's waist, pulling him closer. They stayed that way for several moments, lost in the most tender and wonderful kiss, before Craig broke it and stepped back, leaving a dazed and lost expression on Mark's face.

'You've got your family now Marky, you don't need me anymore' he whispered, and with one last long painful look, Craig turned and walked into the Tardis, leaving a crying and broken Mark behind him, forever.

…

'Are you alright?' Rose asked as soon as Craig closed the Tardis door. She instantly noticed the tear tracks on his cheeks and his red puffy eyes. Without another word, she rushed to him and pulled him into her arms, whilst the Doctor piloted the Tardis away, away from earth, and away from the man who had broken Craig's heart. As soon as they were in the vortex, the Doctor went over to Rose and Craig and put his arms around them both.

'Come on Craig, you did the right thing, you let him go' the Doctor whispered to him.

'So why does it hurt?' Craig asked him, crying and sounding so broke and pained as he clung to the pair of them.

'Because love does' was the simple reply he got. And it did, but Craig knew one thing, no matter how bad things got, how rubbish and dangerous and horrible their adventure could go, love was the thing that kept him fighting, his love for Rose, he's love for his mum and his love for the Doctor, and that was a pain he wouldn't give up for the whole world.

**...**

**And there's another adventure done : ) So, I don't know what I think about this chapter. It may be a little rushed, but I just wanted to get to Craig and Mark's goodbye. Oh well. Anyway, the next adventure is called Attack of the Zangin, and is the first adventure that I've been given a lot of help with by one of you, but more about that later. So until next time, please review : )**


	65. Attack of the Zangin, When Warriors Meet

**And here's the next adventure : ) Ok, this one is a bit special because a lot of the ideas and material in it are not actually mine. They actually belong to one of my readers, who had helped me a lot with this adventure and the plot behind it. So here's my disclaimer. I do not own Doctor who. The Zangin, Trimonights, Shamano, The Astronema, and Trimor were made up by one of my readers, thedarkpokemaster, so full credit goes to him for them. He also helped me with the plot for this as well as the name, but I wrote it up myself. I am the owner of Craig Tyler : )**

**...**

**Attack of the Zangin**

**Attack of the Zangin - When Warriors Meet**

'Oh come on! Pretty please?' Rose practically begged, her hands clamped together, her best puppy dog eyes on and her bottom lip sticking out cutely. The person she was begging however looked away.

'Oh not the puppy dog face, not that face!' the Doctor moaned as he rushed around the console, covering his eyes dramatically, like 'The Puppy Face' was painful to look at. It wasn't, in fact, he found it rather adorable, and hard to resist, but this time he wouldn't give in. He was wearing his usual black leather jacket and trousers, with his blue jumper on today.

'Please, please, please, please, please, please, please!' Rose chanted as she chased him around the control room. Rose was dressed in a pink and black top and a pair of blue jeans over her red and white trainers.

'You know, it wouldn't kill you' Craig noted aloud, an amused expression on his face. He was sitting on the captain's seat, his feet up on the console, watching his best friend being chased by his little sister. He was wearing a long green hoodie over black jeans, and blue and green converse.

'Yes it would!' the Doctor cried in despair, sensing he was going to lose the argument.

'Oh come on! How cool would it be to shopping, on another planet?' Rose tried to encourage him, but the Doctor merely frowned. She had been nagging him since he had set eyes on her that morning to take them to an alien shopping centre on another planet, a quite horrid idea to say the least.

'You're kidding right?! We went shopping on your planet and I hated it!' the Doctor argued back.

'Please?' she did her puppy face again. The Doctor looked uneasy, he never had been able to resist giving into Rose or Craig's puppy faces, but he really didn't want to go! He was about to open his mouth to try and think of a counter-argument, when suddenly he was thrown off his feet.

With a shriek, Rose tumbled to the grated floor too, and Craig fell out of the captain's seat. The room was shaking more violently than it ever had before. It was spinning out of control. They all hastily tried to get a strong grip on the console. Sparks rained down on them and steam puffed out of the controls, large bangs and hisses being emitted from the console also. The entire room flipped vertically, sending them all flying down towards the ceiling before it flipped around them again, and they were falling to the floor, with loud yells of fear and pain as they bounced off the walls. The spinning got faster and faster until everything was just a blare, until suddenly… it stopped. In fact, it stopped so sharply that the three of them smacked straight into the walls.

'Ow… what… what the hell was that?!' an alarmed Rose cried as she staggered to her feet. The Doctor got up, cracking his wrists and rubbing his back.

'Argh, I don't know' he said as he cracked his neck too.

'Are you alright, Doctor? Rose?' Craig asked as he picked himself up too. They would all no doubt be sporting some bruises the next day, and his arms and legs felt a little painful to move, but at least nothing was broken.

'Yeah, I'm fine' the Doctor said as he made his way to the monitor.

'I'm alright too Craig' Rose added.

'Well what the hell happened, where are we?' Craig asked as he and Rose joined the Doctor around the monitor, but it yielded no answers seeing as it was blank.

'I think… I think we were hi-jacked. Someone dragged the Tardis here for something, wherever 'here' is' the Doctor said after a few moments of silence.

'Well, don't you think we ought to go outside and look?' Rose asked as she turned to look at the doors.

'Yeah, but let's be careful. We have no idea what brought us here remember' the Doctor warned cautiously. The three of them made their way to the door, slowly pushing it open and stepping out, looking around anxiously.

Craig had expected to see some amazing planet around them, or maybe some scarred and burning battle-field, or even a cold prison cell on board a spaceship. The one thing he was not expecting was to find they had landed right next to the Thames, at the base of Big Ben, which he note had scaffolding around the top of it. That meant it was definitely some point in time not long after the Slitheen's invasion then.

'London? We've been forcefully taken to London?' he asked in disbelieve that he was going to be black and blue in the morning just to get them to their own city.

'Yeah, London… a few weeks after we were here last' the Doctor said as he checked his watch.

'With Mark?' Craig asked and he nodded.

'But what brought us here? I mean, London wasn't exactly the first place that sprang to mind of dragging us in' Rose commented. But she spoke a moment too soon, as the answer as to what had pulled them there made itself quite clear.

There was a deafening metallic humming above them, and looking up at the sky, what was making it was very apparent. Slowly getting lower, a few feet away from them, was a spaceship. A spaceship was landing in modern day London, and had dragged them there for some reason. The three of them tensed up slightly in nervousness.

The craft itself was huge, it had a prism point on what appeared to be the front of the ship, starting out small and growing larger until it reached what must have be the bridge. It was a large dome sort of structure on top of the prism, with a circular sort of doorway on the side of it. The back part was the strangest part of all, with five sort of panels which appeared to be wings sticking out. Two were on the top, one on each side, and two were on the bottom. One was running along the bottom of the ship, like some kind of strange fin. The main structure of the back section was a cylinder covered in spikes, presumably to provide the ship with some kind on defence. Along the side of the ship were two faded words; The Astronema. It appeared to be bronze in colour, but it was rusty and rackety, puffs of smoke coming out of it in various parts. They watched in anticipation as it got lower and lower, until it finally landed.

The doorway opened and thick white smoke poured out, along with a ramp extending down to the ground. And through the smoke, a figure could be seen, slowly coming down towards them. The smoke began to clear, and the Doctor let out a surprized gasp. Instantly, Rose and Craig turned to him for answers.

'It can't be' the Doctor breathed as the figure drew closer to them. He had reached the base of the ramp, and he could now be clearly seen.

He appeared to be an average looking 19 year old man, with short shaggily black hair and cheeky brown eyes. He was wearing a black buttoned up shirt over a pair of light blue jeans and white trainers, and stood at about 5.3 foot tall. Over the top of his outfit he wore a long sweeping royal blue trench coat. He smiled warmly at the three of them, all of whom stared at him in shock, the Doctor's expression even more gobsmacked then the humans next to him.

'Hello Doc' he greet with a very cheeky grin.

'He knows you?' Rose whispered to the Doctor, somewhat snapping him out of his shock. He turned to his two companions.

'He's an old… friend' the Doctor told them quietly, as he slowly approached the man.

They stood facing each other, a foot apart, completely silent. Before suddenly, the two of them met in a big hug.

'I can't believe it! I thought you'd died' the man said cheerfully as he laughed.

'Nope! Although I wasn't expecting to see you, I thought you'd be busy in your own realm' the Doctor beamed at him as they broke apart. Craig and Rose just watched them in total and utter bewilderment, not understanding at all.

'So, what've you been doing? It's been years for me seen I last saw you!' the mystery man asked, sounding rather enthusiastic in his questioning. He was clearly happy to see the Doctor again, or maybe he was just energetic and bubbly all the time.

'Oh this and that, saving people, running, and I found two quite frankly fantastic companions!' the Doctor had a smile that lit up his face. Which was odd, seeing as usually, only Rose or Craig could get him to look quite that happy.

'So I see. Human?' he asked the Doctor, after a quick glance at Rose and Craig, who were both now scowling at being referred too like they weren't even there. The guy seemed nice and friendly, albeit a little rude though.

'Yep. Rose, Craig, meet an old friend of mine, Shamano!' the Doctor grinned.

'Shamano?' Rose blinked, testing out the unusual word.

'That's me! Gorgeous, sexy, clever, amazing, brilliant, charming, and… err… an excellent kisser. Pretty much sums me up' Shamano grinned at the two of them, extending his hand for them to shake.

'Rose Tyler' Rose smiled at him, shaking his hand.

'Well hello Rose… such a beautiful name, from a beautiful flower, for a beautiful lady' Shamano said seductively, causing Rose to giggle slightly at the good natured flirting. The Doctor scowled slightly, and Craig was sure he caught a look of jealousy of the Time Lord's face for a second, before he turned back to his sister and Shamano.

'Craig, her brother' Craig said, a little harder than he had intended. Then again, Rose seemed to enjoy the flirting, so at least the blonde man's smile and warm handshake were genuinely warm and welcoming.

'Hi Craig! So… I suppose you're wondering why I dragged your Tardis here?' Shamano flashed another grin at the Doctor, and Rose couldn't help but wonder if his face ached from smiling so much.

'The thought had crossed my mind, yeah' the Doctor nodded slowly, somewhat more serious now. And when Shamano answered, all traces of his grin and warmth were gone. In their place were anger, hatred, and a much darker aura around him. It was startling at how quickly he had changed, and his answer was even more confusing, at least to Rose and Craig.

'Zangin' he said.

'Oh shit' the Doctor whispered. Rose and Craig looked at him in shock, having rarely heard him swear before. At least that confirmed one thing. Whatever 'Zangin' were, they were bad. Worse than bad. The two humans braced themselves for another bumpy, difficult, and terrifying adventure.

…

The Doctor had led the four of them to a small park not far from Big Ben, and they were now all seated around a picnic bench. It was time that they got some answers. And the Tylers were very keen on getting some of those. So far they had yet to receive an explanation, but that was about to change if they had anything to say about it.

'So, not trying to be rude or anything, but who exactly are you?' Rose asked Shamano.

'Well, that's kind of difficult question to answer' Shamano turned to the Doctor for help.

'Shamano is from a species called the Trimonights' the Doctor began to explain.

'And who are they?' Craig asked.

'Were they. There're gone now' Shamano said softly, a far off look in his eyes, which were glistening ever so slightly.

'Oh… I'm sorry, how did it happen?' Rose asked sympathetically.

'War after war. The Zangin, the Time War, just… everything' he sighed.

'The Time War? The one that destroyed Gallifrey?' Craig turned to the Doctor. Shamano let out choking sound before turning to the Doctor, very alarmed.

'Gallifrey's… gone' he asked wide eyed. The Doctor silently nodded. Shamano just sat there, looking gobsmacked.

'…How…' he managed to say after few moments. Rose and Craig just stayed silent, curious to find out about this particular conversation.

'I destroyed it, the time lords, the Daleks, all of them, every world, everything' the Doctor whispered, guilt, shame, and misery lining his voice. Rose and Craig looked at him with wide eyes. They knew that he had finished the war, and had both guessed how, but to hear him actually say out loud was something else.

'What would have happened, if you didn't. Show me' Shamano said.

'What do you mean?' The Doctor looked at him fearfully. He knew exactly what he meant, but with Rose and Craig there he hardly wanted to do this now.

'You know exactly what I mean old friend, now show me' Shamano growled and the Doctor sighed, before holding out his hands on the table.

'How can he show you?' Rose wondered.

'He's telepathic, he can show us his memories' Shamano replied.

'Really?' Rose turned around to face him.

'…yeah, but are you sure you want to see this, those final days, they aren't pretty' the Doctor warned.

'I'm sure' Shamano nodded, an expressionless look on his face.

'Rose, Craig, I don't want you to see this' the Doctor said to his two companions.

'Why not?' Craig looked at him, a hurt expression on his face. The Doctor could understand why it would hurt him to say that, but he had an extremely good reason.

'Because if you and Rose see what I did, you'd never stop running from me' he whispered, sounding more lost and broken then either Tyler had ever seen him.

'No we wouldn't. We'll never leave you' Rose said firmly, and Craig nodded in agreement. They'd never leave the Doctor's side, no matter what he'd done. A fact the Doctor both loved them for and feared slightly.

'Then give me your hands' he sighed, holding Rose's hand and Shamano's, whilst Craig completed the circle so they were all joined together. Then the images hit them.

_*They were standing in the middle of a field; full of crimson red grass and trees with silver leaves. The beautiful orange sky above their heads was full of gold space ships, thousands upon thousands of Daleks surrounding them, their extermination rays firing at the ground. The screaming was horrific._

_*Bombs and rockets and missiles were raining down on the Dalek ships, atomising them or causing them to explosion into fiery balls of burning white light that filled the entire sky. But the fighting didn't end, more and more Dalek ships came, and returned fire with equal destructive power. _

_*Great shimmering walls of golden light rose up around everything in sight, covering the entire sky. Time stopped for a second, completely frozen and locking in place, before the fighting recommenced. It was like everyone inside the war was now sealed in time, trapped forever._

_*Everything was burning. Screaming echoed around the planet as it started to break apart into nothingness, the remaining Daleks in the sky burst into golden flames and died too. Everything was silent._

Then they were back in the park, they all gasped as they let go of each other's hands. Rose wrapped her arm around the Doctor as he shook slightly, trying to hold back tears. He was so upset; it broke the Tyler's hearts to look at him, and they had only just got the tiniest glimpse of what he had gone through!

'I don't understand' Shamano said.

'The original plan failed Shamano, the Time Lords couldn't convince the Daleks to live in peace. You know that' the Doctor turned to him.

'But I thought the Time Lords had invented a weapon, one that would end the war' Shamano said in confusion.

'But they changed Shamano; you left to go help out in your own war. You didn't see them; you didn't see what was born. What the Time Lords were planning on doing. I had to stop them. So I stole the weapon they created and used it to destroy both species before either got the chance to do what they wanted' the Doctor, his face lined with so much guilt.

'I'm so sorry' Rose whispered as she hugged him close. Craig instantly stood up and moved around the bench, and hugged the Doctor too. He clung to them both desperately, too afraid that they would run from him, knowing the truth of what he had done. But they wouldn't, they would never leave him behind.

'I'm sorry Doctor… that I left you too it… I thought…' Shamano trailed off into silence.

'It's fine, it's doesn't matter. And anyway, if you'd stayed, you'd have been trapped in the Time lock too' the Doctor said, wiping his eyes and forcing his face to return to normal.

'Anyway, enough about that. What are these Zangin things, and why are they here?' Craig asked to try and change the subject. But it hardly seemed any better, because Shamano looked angry again, and the Doctor did too.

'The Zangin were mutations, their home planet is long gone but before that is was a jungle Planet in which a race landed and did tests and experiments on the wild life that grow there. The end reason was the birth of the Zangin race' the Doctor started to explain, his voice low and hard now.

'They mature rapidly, learn how to accomplish tasks at immense speed. They adapt to their surrounds and how to survive better than any species I've ever known' Shamano added.

'Eventually they learnt how to cross into other Dimensions. You see this universe has billions and billions of others all stacked up around it, like it but with differences' the Doctor said.

'Like Parallel worlds?' Craig asked.

'Yeah. The word Dimension applies to all sorts of things. Some people call Parallel universes different dimensions, whilst some call the different layers within a single universe different dimensions'

'Like 2D and 3D' Rose realised.

'Exactly, and the Zangin learnt how to build technology capable of crossing through them' the Doctor nodded.

'Although nothing can cross through into Parallel Universe, not even the Trimonights' Shamano added.

'But, what happened to them, and how do these Zangin fit in' Rose asked.

'They attacked world after world, converting the populations into their own kind, killed some many people and planets. Eventually the Trimonights tired of seeing so many species destroyed by those beasts, and engaged them in war. Both sides were destroyed, and Trimor is gone' Shamano said solemnly.

'Trimor? Was that your planet?' Rose asked gently.

'Yeah, oh it was so beautiful' Shamano said wistfully.

'What was it like? Craig asked kindly, but it was the Doctor who answered him.

'It was much bigger than Earth. The sky glowed red and green and the seas were a beautiful jade blue colour. Even the grass was blue. The forests were massive, much bigger than any of the forests here, and when the leaves fall off the trees, the wind made it sound like they were singing. It was gorgeous that planet' the Doctor sighed slightly.

'And now the Zangin are here?' Craig snapped them both out of their thoughts of their lost worlds.

'Yeah, that's why I'm here, to stop them' Shamano nodded.

'And let me guess, you hijacked my Tardis to get me to help' the Doctor realised.

'Well, I saw it floating in the vortex, thought you might be willing to give me a hand' Shamano looked at him hopefully.

'Well, I can't exactly leave the Zangin here can I, and you can't deal with them on your own' the Doctor teased him.

'Oh! Yes I could, I just thought it would be nice to see you again, although why I have no idea' Shamano scoffed.

'So, what's the plan?' Rose wanted to know.

'I tracked them into this dimension and time frame. But the furthest I narrowed it down to was this country. What is this place anyway?' Shamano looked around at the people and animals in the park.

'London, England, Earth' Craig put in.

'And you know that how?' Shamano asked him.

'Because we lived here' Rose explained.

'Right, so you must have a base or something here' Shamano asked. Rose and Craig looked at each other, before smiling evilly and turning to the Doctor.

'Oh no! Not again! Please not again!' he cried, looking pleadingly at the two smirking blondes whilst Shamano watched the scene in bewilderment. Why, why on top of Zangin were they going to make this worse on him by going to see her?!

**...**

**And that's the first part of it. Ok, so I've rewritten this chapter a few times since I wasn't overly happy with it, and this is the final result. I'd like to thank thedarkpokemaster for all his help in this adventure, and if you haven't, I'd suggesting checking out some of his work : )**

**About the reviews I've recieved lately, I'm glad that people seemed to like the Craig and Mark ending, and I got a few questions about Craig's future, in both the DNA plotline I've got going, and who he is going to end up with. All I'll say about the DNA plot is that what I've got in mind, I doubt anybody will see it coming but I'm sure you'll love it : ) And as for his love, I'm sorry to say it will not be Jack. They'll have a thing for each other, but it will not be 'it' for Craig. But fear not, this plot will continue into the sequel ; ) Thank you to everyone who expresses an interest in this story and reviews it, it means a lot : )**

**And finally, now that the current season is finally done, I've gotta say, wow! I loved The Name of the Doctor as an episode. I'm not sure it was the best finale, but a really great episode all the same. I loved the bit where Clara entered the Doctor's timestream and met his first form : ) And it set up for the 50th too. I can't wait to see it, and Ten and Rose reappear too! But enough about that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and see you next time!**


	66. Attack of the Zangin, Lizard People!

**And here's part two. I'm so glad people seemed to like the last chapter and have questions about Shamano. I've tried to put bits about his history into the story, but to be honest, I don't really want to say too much because Shamano isn't my own character. I'd rather let his owner do that his own way. Anyway, The Zangin, Trimonights, Shamano, and Trimor were made up by thedarkpokemaster, so full credit goes to him for them. I do not own Doctor Who but I am the owner of Craig Tyler : )**

**...**

**Attack of the Zangin – Lizard People?!**

'So who is this woman then? A Secret agent or something? Intelligence gatherer?' Shamano asked excitedly as he followed the Doctor, Rose, and Craig through the London streets. The Doctor burst out laughing at this.

'Jackie Tyler?! Intelligence gatherer?! If she was she should find some for herself first!' he laughed.

'Oi, that's our mother you're talking about!' Rose glared at him and the Doctor instantly stopped laughing, hanging his head under her gaze. Shamano looked between the Doctor and Rose in surprize for a second.

'Wow, your assistants back in the old days would never have told you off like that' he commented.

'Yeah, well we're not his assistants' Craig frowned before he started walking again, the others following him. The Doctor and Shamano were hanging back slightly, and once Rose and Craig were far enough ahead, Shamano turned to the Doctor.

'In fact, in the old days, family visits were something you'd never do, so why are these two different?' he asked.

'They just are, all my companions were special in their own way, but Rose and Craig… they've set a new bench mark. And if putting up with their harpy of a mother means keeping them happy, then I'll just suffer her for them' the Doctor shrugged.

Shamano just looked at him in shock. These Tyler must mean an awful lot to him. The two of them quickened their pace to catch up with the two human who were walking a few metres ahead of them.

…

'So, what do ya think of him then?' Craig suddenly asked Rose as they walked ahead of the Doctor and his apparent old friend.

'What?' Rose asked, startled out of her thoughts by her brother's voice.

'Shamano, what do you think? He elaborated.

'He seems nice' Rose shrugged.

'Oh come on, I mean, how do you think they know each other?' Craig pressed her.

'Oh… I don't know, maybe in the time war' she shrugged in response.

'I think it runs deeper than that, they seem like they knew each other before' Craig thought aloud.

'Well I don't know, maybe they travelled together' Rose reasoned.

'Yeah… maybe' Craig said thoughtfully, just before the Doctor and Shamano joined them, just as they reached the entrance to the Powell Estate. The four of them crossed the courtyard and climbed the stairs, and moments later Rose turned her key in the lock, and they walked into the Tyler residence.

'Hello?' they heard Jackie's voice calling from the kitchen.

'Hey mum!' Craig called back.

'Oh my gosh, you never told me you were coming back so soon!' Jackie's voice cried happily as she emerged from the kitchen, a wide smile on her face. She was wearing a pink hoodie over light blue jeans as she ran up to Rose and Craig and wrapped them both in a huge hug. As she broke away, she spotted the Doctor and Shamano.

'Oh, who's your friend?' she asked them.

'I'm the Doctor Jackie; we've met on numerous occasions' the Doctor said to her mockingly, like she was an simpleton.

'Oh shut it you, I met the one who doesn't look like an old boot' Jackie countered and the Doctor's smug smirk dropped into a pout as Rose and Craig laughed, and Shamano looked amusedly surprized.

'I'm Shamano, and you must be Jackie Tyler' Shamano smiled warmly at her.

'That's me' she smiled politely at him as she held out her hand for him to shake.

'An absolute pleasure. I can see where your daughter gets her good lucks from' Shamano said as he took it, and kissed it instead of shaking it with a cheeky wink.

'Oh… my, at least he knows how to treat a lady' Jackie giggled at the Doctor, who rolled his eyes and scowled.

'Yeah right… a lady' he whispered, but unfortunately for him, Jackie heard him and span around on the spot.

'Yeah?! I'll show you how female I am!' she yelled as she brought her hand up and slapped him across the face, even harder than the last time! He groaned and rubbed his cheek as his head snapped back, whilst Rose and Craig both sighed at their mother's inability to get on with the Doctor, and Shamano's mouth hung open in shock. Jackie turned back to look at Rose, Craig and Shamano.

'This way' she said cheerfully as she ushered them all into the living room, whilst the Doctor scowled and follow, nervously admitted. Jackie Tyler's slap was not something to be taken lightly after all.

…

Once they had all being given a cup of tea and a piece of freshly baked chocolate cake, which Rose had been delighted by; Jackie had turned the conversation to all seriousness.

'So then, what's going on this time?' she asked apprehensively. The Doctor raised an eyebrow at this, when did Jackie Tyler become perceptive enough to know that something was going on. His surprise must have shown on his face when Jackie sharply answered his unasked question.

'Oh don't look like that! Ever since my children met you the only time I see them is when some stupid alien rubbish is going down' she snapped. The Doctor had to admit, she had a point there.

'We think that something is invading for some reason' Rose told her. Jackie eyes widened slightly, looking a little scare, but she chose not to say anything.

'Jackie, it's really important that you think hard, has there been anything odd happening in the city recently. Anything, no matter how small, just anything strange, something that just doesn't feel right' the Doctor asked her, his voice holding the seriousness of the situation.

Jackie paused, deep in thought as she drunk some of her tea. When she lowered her cup, her eyes lit up like she had just had an epiphany.

'Well, people have been talking about these weird lights that keep flashing across the sky' she told them. The four others exchanged looks at this, which definitely sounded like it was what they were looking for.

'What's been said about them mum?' Craig asked her after a moment of silence. She paused as she tried to remember what had been said on the television.

'I don't really know. It just said there were a lot of green flashing lights in the sky at night, and nobody seems to know what they are. Some people think its freak lightning pulses, and some think it's a new weather-balloon, and then… well some think it's got something to do with all those people going missing… there's all sorts of rumours going around' Jackie shrugged. The Doctor, his curiosity peaked, was silent for a few moments, before all her words hit him, bringing another question to his lips.

'Wait, hang on go back… there's people going missing?' he asked intrigued.

'Yeah, and it ain't half odd. At first it was only women going missing, so everyone thought it was some kind of rapist or predator, but now men are disappearing too, so now… everybody's clueless' she replied. The Doctor and Shamano shared a glance, this definitely sounded more and more like an attempt to create new soldiers for the Zangin cause.

'Have you got a map anywhere?' the Doctor asked.

'Yeah, in the cupboard' she jerked her head towards the cupboard in the corner of the room. In a flash, Craig was there and looking through it, and moments later he pulled a map of the city out of the cupboard before he closed the door and passed it over to the Doctor, who unfolded it over the coffee table, studying it intensely.

'Jackie, can you put marks on the places where the people supposedly disappeared?' he asked her, handing her a pen.

'I suppose' she nodded and frowned in thought for a minute or so, no doubt trying to remember the information she'd picked up from the media, before she began to draw circles on the map all over the city.

A few minutes later, there were big red circles all over the map, small clusters all over the city where the people have been taken. As soon as Jackie had set the pen down the Doctor had whisked the map away from her with a word of thanks, before he held it up to amaze it closer.

'Any sort of pattern' Shamano asked him, moving over to get a look for himself.

'Look at this, they're in busy areas' the Doctor pointed out at a shopping centre and a train station.

'Buy nobody's seen whose taking them? What are they, invisible?' Craig asked in confusion.

'The Zangin are clever, it wouldn't take them long to grab a person and teleport away before anyone spotted them' Shamano told him.

'Yeah, but if we're going to find them, we need to predict they're next likely spot to kidnap people'

'Oh listen to Miss Marple over there' Jackie said sarcastically.

'That's Sherlock actually' Rose giggled at the old inside joke.

'Never mind all that, where do we start, bus stations? Office blocks? Anywhere with large crowds of people?' Craig suggested.

'With so many people going missing, the frequency of the abductions has to be increasing, and the clusters are around this area, what's that?' Shamano asked, pointing at a point on the map. Rose leaned over to take a look.

'The high-street' she replied.

'Then let's start there' Shamano said, standing up, clearly ready for action. The Doctor, Rose and Craig all followed his lead as he went for the door.

'Mum, stay here, we'll come back later before we go' Rose said as the Doctor and Shamano exited the flat.

'Be careful' she replied softly.

'Always' Craig grinned at his mum before he and Rose left too, closing the door behind them. And then they were off.

…

When the four of them arrived, it was exactly what you'd expect of a typical high-street. Buses and cars were zipping past them, the streets were crowded with shoppers, it was extremely busy with people rushing around doing their business. The four of them had taken to walking around the street, the Doctor's reasoning being if they waited long enough, then surely the Zangin would appear. Rose had tried to point out that they didn't even know if the Zangin were going to appear there for sure, or even when they'd appear, but it fell on deaf ears. Now the four of them had broken into pairs again, the Doctor and Shamano on the left side of the street, Craig and Rose on the right.

'So, since I last saw you, what've you been up too?' the Doctor asked to break the comfortable silence the two of them had fallen into.

'Same as ever… travelling, saving the world and all that, what about you?' Shamano replied.

'The same, when Gallifrey… after it happened, I went travelling by myself for a bit, and then I met Rose and Craig… and they make me, well, more human' the Doctor trailed off thoughtfully.

'You always did have a thing about humans and saving their world, and you love her, Rose, don't you?' Shamano asked him. The Doctor looked at him in surprize.

'How did you know?' he asked slightly taken aback. He noticed how he didn't deny it though, and that little fact made the Time Lord smile slightly.

'I know by the way you look at her, I know when a man loves someone' Shamano said softly, staring off into space. The Doctor frowned slightly, before it clicked into place.

'And what about you… was there ever anyone?' he asked curiously. The Shamano he knew was always a bit of a player, but had never truly been in love, or at least to his knowledge, and he couldn't help but be curious as to whether that had changed. Shamano was silent for a while, until he spoke so softly the Doctor had trouble hearing his response.

'There was one woman, the best woman I've ever known' he whispered. The Doctor frowned slightly, he sounded so broken… so lost… oh.

'And what happened to her?' he asked. Shamano just looked off into the distance but didn't reply. The Doctor put a hand on his shoulder and sighed softly.

'So what happened in your own war anyway?' the Doctor asked suddenly. Shamano looked glad of the change of subject, and went into a quick explanation.

'Well, you know it lasted for two hundred years, and my platoon ended it. We developed a bomb that would destroy anything in its path… everyone but me were killed in it' he said guiltily. The Doctor blinked.

'So you're the last?' he asked in horrified shock.

'Yeah, the last, I tried to save some of the good ones of my people, but I couldn't. All I could do was watch then burning… but… I survived too, how about that then' he gave the Doctor a small smile, which he managed to return. It surprized him greatly that Shamano was the last of his kind, just like he was… but maybe that was meant to be, the two friends, last of their kinds.

…

'That looks intense' Rose noted to Craig, breaking the silence the sibling had fallen into. Craig turned and looked over the road, where Shamano was staring off into space and the Doctor had his hand on his shoulder.

'Yeah it does… why does it interest you so much, about them two I mean?' he asked.

'Are you telling me you're not curious? I mean, come on, the Doctor's fantastic, he's… amazing, but we don't know that much about him do we… I mean, we don't even know his name' she pointed out. Craig had to admit, she had a point there.

'Well you know, it's part of his culture not to tell anybody his real name' he shrugged in response.

'Yeah… I just wish he'd let us in a little more' Rose sighed.

'He will, when he's ready' Craig said with certainty.

'I hope so' she sighed again.

'Plus, I don't think he's ever let anybody else in like he does with us… with you' he added as an afterthought. Rose didn't reply, she just continued to watch the Doctor and Shamano.

'So then, what about this Zangin things, what do you think they are?' Craig asked to change the subject.

'I don't know, those two are keeping well quiet about that aren't they. Something bad though I guess judging by the look on the Doctor's face when he heard their name' she shrugged. The two of them let out a sigh, before they fell back into their silence.

Only their silence didn't last long at all. At that moment, there was a massive roaring sound coming from the sky above them. Everyone in the street turn their heads upwards to see a huge burst of green light illuming the sky and ghoulish green colour. Then in a flash of light, a huge spaceship appeared over them, casting the street into a pitch black shadow.

People began screaming and running in fear as they looked up at the UFO which had just appeared above them. The ship was big and pretty intimidating, so Rose could understand their fears and desires to get away quickly. There was a huge sphere that formed the main body of the ship, with smaller spheres a few metres out from the main body. They all had long metal tunnels connecting them to the main sphere, and there were large circular green lights on the bottom of each sphere. Suddenly their glow became brighter, and huge beams of green lights rained down, causing the screaming and fear to double fold.

Rose let out a small gasp as a shadow formed inside one of the beams of light, fading into existence, like a teleport or transmat or beam-down. When it became fully corporal, she screamed in surprize whilst Craig's eyes widened in shock.

The creature was much taller than the humans running and screaming from it and its body was ripped with bulging muscles and a perfect set of abs. hell if a human had a body like that, most like both Tyler would find it difficult to resist. But this was nothing like a human, or the slightly bit attractive. It had a dark tone of green skin, the texture of which was scaly and dry. It had a dark bloody red strip running downs its back, and had razor sharp fangs obscuring part of its face. Its eyes were narrowed and vivid yellow like a frog, and had slits which would no doubt help it see in the dark. It had clawed hands and feet, and bore a remarkably resemblance to a lizard.

'Lizard people?! The Zangin are LIZARD PEOPLE?!' Rose gasped in shock as both she and Craig were being push back away from the creature by the fleeing crowds. More beams of light began raining down, and more Zangin appeared all over the street, blocking the way out.

'ROSE! CRAIG!' the Doctor's voice rang through the screaming. They both turned and spotted the Doctor and Shamano trying to push their way to them through the screaming public. More and more of the Zangin were appearing across the street, grabbing onto a human before they vanished again. They were abducting more and more people, and now in broad daylight, so not good!

'DOCTOR' Rose screamed as she was pushed along with the crowd, away from the Doctor. They kept trying to reach each other, but it was no good, the crowd forced them further and further apart.

'NO! ROSE!' he yelled after as they lost sight of him. Craig grabbed Rose's wrist and held on tight so that they didn't lose each other either too. They were forced back a few more steps when it happened.

Right in front of them a beam of green light appeared, causing the screaming and panic closest to them to get even louder. Another Zangin appeared, but this one was different. This one was less muscled than the other, and had a more slender, feminine figure. It had lighter green skin toning, and had a long tail trailing behind it whereas the other one they had since didn't. The stripe on its back was brown, and this one had long trailing black hair, making it look like some human lizard hybrid, which sickeningly, it was. Craig guessed that this was what the female Zangin looked like, making the other ones the males. With a drawing hiss and a flick of her tongue, the Zangin charged at them, her claws raised high. She was aiming for Rose, she wanted to take Rose! Craig' Baby sister!

'No way in hell!' Craig yelled as he realised this, and without pausing to think, he pushed Rose as hard as he could into the sea of fleeing people, away from them. The Zangin's claws dug into his arm instead as Rose staggered and fell to her hands and knees, her hair hanging down messily over her face as he tried to get back up. It wasn't easy with so many people rushing around her, trampling her, but eventually managed to get back to her feet, only to see that Craig and the Zangin vanish in a flash of green light, the Zangin's claws pressing into Craig's throat before they were gone.

'Craig? CRAIG!' she screamed at the top of her lungs as cold fear gripped her heart and stomach. He wasn't there. Craig Tyler wasn't there, her big brother, he was gone, and she had no idea how to find him. SO. NOT. FANTASTIC!

**...**

**And that's another one done : ) So, onto reviews. Thank you so much to everything that reviewed the last chapter, it was helpful in developing this chapter, especially when Jackie slapped the Doctor again : ) Not much else to say really often then I hope to see you in the next chapter : )**


	67. Attack of the Zangin, Converting Craig

**Wow! We're really flying through these aren't we : ) Only one more chapter of this adventure to go, yay! So, Doctor Who isn't mine, and The Zangin, Trimonights, Shamano, and Trimor were made up by thedarkpokemaster, Craig Tyler is owned by me. Please enjoy.**

**...**

**Attack of the Zangin – Converting Craig**

Craig groaned softly as he rubbed the palm of his hand over his forehead, trying to clear his foggy mind. He blinked slightly as his vision blurred before him. All he could see was fuzzy shapes and colours around him. He was on his feet still though, and could feel a strong set of hands on his shoulders, keeping him upright, and none too gently. Soon enough his vision sharpened and cleared, and Craig looked around in wonder.

He was in a giant chamber of a room, but it was unlike any room he had ever seen before, even with all the places he had seen with the Doctor. It was like a jungle and a desert all rolled into one. The walls were covered in thick bubbling green slime, the floor coated in golden sand. Tropical exotic trees formed a thick rainforest around them, forming an enclosure which Craig, and all the other humans taken from the high-street, was standing in, along with their Zangin guards. Craig noted that his wasn't the female which had captured him, but a male one now.

Many of the people were screaming in terror as they realised where they were but Craig just looked around quietly, trying to figure out who was in charge, where the exits were, or if there was something he could use to make his escape. So far, nothing stood out to him.

'SILENCE' a deep voice rasped, and instantly the screaming died down, as a huge Zangin approached them. Craig looked at it; it was definitely male, and clearly in charge. He focused his attention on him as he began to address the terrified prisoners.

'How many?' the leader asked, turning to the guard holding Craig.

'Forty four sir, forty four more specimens for the Zangin cause' the guard replied in his rasping voice.

'Excellent' the leader hissed as he began to pace up and down in front of the prisoners, who had been forced into a long line, with guards holding them all firmly in place.

'Begin the conversion of them all, all none necessary soldiers should prepare for the next attack' the leader said after a few moments. Craig sighed as the other prisoners began screaming again. He watched as the leader marched off into the trees and out of sight, before his guard roughly dragged him away.

'OI! I can walk by myself!' he protested as he struggled to break free from the lizard man's grip but to no avail.

'Stop struggling human!' he hissed as he tightened his grip on Craig's arms, making the blonde wince in pain as no doubt bruises started forming. But Craig didn't stop struggling, but it was no use, the Zangin was way too strong for him, and effortlessly pulled Craig out of the jungle/desert room and into a long corridor, which was also coated in the bright green slimy goo. Craig wrinkled his nose in disgust as he was dragged along the corridor, it really stank!

'So then, what's this conversion big boss lizard man was talking about? Are we being made like you lot?' he asked almost casually as the Zangin pushed him onwards.

'Shut it human. Zangin do not answer primitive ape questions' the Zangin hissed angrily.

'I have a friend who calls us apes you know, but he's a lot more clever and dangerous then Zangin, he's fantastic, and very protective, so I'd watch out if I were you' Craig shot back as they reached the end of the corridor and rounded a corner into another one, but the Zangin ignored him, so Craig took to silently looking around the new corridor.

This one was lined with many circular doors and each had slime encased plagues above them. Craig squinted to see through the thick slime, but managed to make the writing on the plagues out. At first it was strange squiggles he couldn't read, but soon it translated before his eyes into English, which had to have been the Tardis Translation Circuits by his reckoning. It was some kind of coding, or room identification. They started with an adjective, and then had a dash, then the name of an animal, then another dash, and then a number. He watched as a woman with curly black hair was forced, screaming, into a room labelled 'COLD – FOX – 2' and a man with red hair and glasses pushed into the one next to it, 'GREY – DOG – 7'.

All along the corridor a human was being forcefully made to enter one of the rooms, and all too soon Craig's guard forced him to stop, making him wince again from the pain in his arms. He looked up at the ID for his room, and his eye's widened. There, is big bold, almost taunting letters was the words 'BAD – WOLF – 4'. Of course, why he was not surprized! Bad bloody Wolf! It was here too! And he was going to be changed into one of those stupid Zangin! Maybe that was it, a warning that he was going to change species… become a giant lizard thing, but then… no that was ridiculous, Bad Wolf couldn't mean the Zangin, it had to mean something else… something much closer to home… something that was important to him, or someone… but what was the Bad Wolf? Or who was it?

But Craig didn't have chance to reflect on it, because soon enough he stumbled forwards as he was roughly pushed towards the circular door which had just slide open with a low whoosh.

'Get in there' the Zangin holding him hissed as he pushed the trembling blonde forwards. Craig took a deep calming breath as he willed his courage back into him, and for the Doctor and Rose to come find him before it was too late as he stepped into the pod.

…

'NO! CRAIG! CRAIG!' Rose screamed his name again and again but it was no good, there was no way from him to come back. She began to cry and she tried once more to get through the crowd. The panic of the scene was starting to wear off none. The Zangin were all gone, and a lot of the public had fled the street, but it was still fairly crowded of scare citizens, many of whom were on their mobiles or crying or panting in relief.

'ROSE!' she heard a voice calling her over and over, and still shaken, she called out.

'DOCTOR!' she yelled, and moments later a gap in the crowd parted and she saw him. she pushed her way over to him, and as soon as she was by his side, she broke down in his arms.

'They got him, they got Craig' she cried into his jacket.

'Shit, oh shit, we have to go get him' the Doctor sounded more panicked than Rose had ever heard him, causing her heart to shatter even more. This was so bad, so, so very bad.

'Look, calm now, the process of changing a human into a Zangin takes time, we have time!' Shamano said in a raised voice, trying to calm the two of them down.

'But the ship's gone! We don't know where they've taken him!' Rose said, very distressed. But then she had a brainwave.

'Teleport, you brought Cassandra back, on platform one, can't you do the same here?' she asked the Doctor desperately. He just looked into her eyes as he shook her head.

'I can't. I'm so sorry Rose, but the Zangin are too clever to leave a teleport link open, I can't reverse it without it' he shook his head.

'But we can track its path, the teleportation path. Then follow it in either the Tardis or The Astronema. We'll find Craig that way' Shamano suggested. He was keeping calm under the circumstances. He'd seen the Zangin take people before, they had even taken his own child, and he had been trained to remain calm under pressure, a good viewpoint for the Doctor and Rose to have at a time like this.

'Brilliant, Shamano, you're absolutely fantastic' the Doctor's usual manic grin had reappeared as he hastily dug into his pocket, bringing out his sonic screwdriver. Shamano rolled his eyes when he saw it.

'Oh you're joking. You actually still carry around a sonic screwdriver?!' he scoffed.

'Oh course I do, I love my sonic screwdriver' the Doctor defended, but when he caught sight of the impatient look on Rose's face he quickly got to work. After all, he didn't want to know to know if Rose could hit as hard as her mother.

He held the screwdriver up towards the sky, pointing it where the ship had been only a few minutes before, and moments later, he had the results he was hoping for.

'Got it! I've got the signal, and it's still close!' he grinned at Rose and Shamano.

'Well come on then! Let's go get Craig!' Rose said, feeling a lot better at the thought of rescuing Craig so quickly from those creatures, and soon the three of them were running through the crowds, running through the street in the direction of the Tardis. Rose just prayed that they'd get there in time.

…

Craig looked around in curious disgust at the room he was lowly walking into. Thick green slime coated the walls, floor, and was dripping down from the ceiling. It stank, and judging from the red splatters mixed into the green, people had died in this room. In the centre stood a strange contraption. It was silvery but rusted, like it was old and had been used many times before. It was a sort of operating table, with four thick manacles bolted into it, no doubt to hold the victim in place. Dangling down from the ceiling was a sort of large drill like box, which had many needles and other alien devices attached to it. Craig shuddered as he thought about what they might be used from.

'Move' the Zangin guard hissed in his ear as Craig was roughly pushed forwards towards the lethal looked device. He struggled, boy he struggled to free himself, but it was pointless, the Zangin was just too strong and moments later Craig was painfully pushed up against the table and forced back onto it, the shutters clamping down tightly and painfully onto his wrist and ankles. He tried to squirm free but it was no use, they wouldn't budge. He felt a trickle of blood running down his hands and realised that they were cutting into him. He glared up at the Zangin who stood by a set of controls just in the corner of his eye, but remained silent for now.

The Zangin didn't even look at him; he just pressed some button on the controls, before he briskly turned on the spot and exited the pod, without casting the blonde a backwards glance. The door sealed, and the machine began to make a humming noise as it began to power up. Craig began struggling to try and get free again, because no matter how futile it seemed, he had to get away. He had to get back to the Doctor and Rose.

…

It had taken all of ten minutes for the Doctor, Rose, and Shamano to get back to the Tardis, and without missing a beat, the three of them had charged straight into the control room. The Doctor was busy at the console, Rose hovering impatiently next to him, whilst Shamano looked around in wonder.

'You've redecorated' he noted wonderingly as he looked around.

'I've changed the desktop yeah' the Doctor replied, looking at the monitor thoughtfully instead of at his old friend.

'You can change the appearance of the Tardis?' Rose asked curiously.

'Oh yeah, right now it's set on coral' he nodded happily to her, before turning his attention back to the task at hand. He had his sonic screwdriver plugged into the controls, and was using the Tardis to track down the Zangin ship before taking them too it.

They were only waiting for a moment when the screen flashed and beeped. Rose couldn't understand the circles covering the screen, but just seeing them gave her hope of finding Craig soon.

'It's close, behind the moon' the Doctor read off the screen as Shamano stopped looking around the control room and joined them around the monitor.

'Hold on though. Look at that' he said, pointing to a small cluster of circles at the bottom of the screen.

'Some kind of energy traces' the Doctor said softly.

'I recognise those traces, its conversion units, Zangin convertors' Shamano stated angrily.

'Looks like you were right, the Zangin have gotta be trying to build up their army' Rose replied thoughtfully.

'We've gotta hurry, before they convert Craig into one of them' the Doctor said as he began rushing around the console, starting the dematerialisation sequence. With the usual whoose noise, the Tardis began to move, but seconds later the three of them were nearly thrown off their feet as the entire room began spinning, just like it had earlier, but even faster. Smoke and huge explosions began to burst around the console; a small part of it even caught fire as sparks rained down on them. Rose let out a small scream as she tumbled downwards but the Doctor caught her in his arms in time, securing her balance.

'What's happening?!' she cried in alarm.

'The Zangin ship is defended, the Tardis is trying to break through!' the Doctor yelled to be heard over another loud explosion. The spinning was getting faster and faster and soon everything was a blur as the Tardis alarms started ringing, warning them that they were going to crash. The Doctor, Rose and Shamano all yelled out as they rocketed onwards through the vortex, not knowing if their landing was going to be one they'd survive.

…

Craig Tyler was scared. God he was scared. He was trembling even. The machine, the conversation unit, it had powered up and was beginning the sequence. The box with all the needles and instruments was lowering down from the ceiling, coming closer and closer, and he couldn't get away. He had struggled and strained and tried to get out of the retrains holding him, but it was useless, they wouldn't budge. And the box was coming closer. Tears began to form in his eyes as it stopped moving. Needles started to be moved towards his arms was when he started crying. They weren't coming, the Doctor and Rose, they weren't coming to save him, and the needle was coming closer and closer.

He began to scream as it neared the flesh of his arm but it was no use, and after seconds which felt like hours, the needle jabbed into his arms. The effect was immediate. He began screaming and yelling in agony as it felt like even bone in his body was breaking, being set on fire. The pain grew and grew until it consumed him, his blood, his skin, his mind, all of it, he was burning and burning. He screamed and screamed and screamed as he felt like all his organs were rupturing and being changed into something else, god it hurt. It was literally like burning in hell.

When the next needle came, he began sobbing and shaking and fitting as seizures racked his body. His throat felt like it was being shredded as he continued to scream and now cries of pleading were seeping into his screams, pleads for it to end, for him to die rather than endure the pain any longer.

His mind and body were being prised apart, he was sure of it, and he couldn't take much more, as a third needle was pumping something else into his system, making the pain even more horrific. His throat was feeling harsh now, and his screams were beginning to become softer since his voice burned too much to even use. He vision began to shut down as yet another needle pumped him full of yet another burning chemical, and at long last Craig slipped into the darkness of his mind as he fell unconscious.

Had he hung on through the pain just a second longer he'd have noticed that something even stranger was beginning to happen. His skin was sparkling a beautiful golden colour. It spread from his arms to his chest then down his body to his legs to his feet. It rose up his neck and across his face and into his hair. It was causing his body to steam slightly, like it was on fire only it wasn't. It was purifying him, taking what the Zangin had started to do and reversing it. Then his eyes opened but Craig Tyler did not see, because in that moment, his eyes were gold.

Suddenly the light burst outwards from him, exploding around the pod like a massive firework, destroying the machine and leaving most of the room smouldering with golden, cleansing steam. A short sigh drew itself from Craig's mouth as the light faded away, back into his unconscious, weak, but thankfully alive human form.

**...**

**And that's part three. Ok, so the ending there is part of my Craig plot for this series since it's been a while since we've seen that. Please leave you thoughts about that in a review as I love hearing your ideas and theories. And I know a lot of you want more information about Shamano, but I don't want to commit to anything in this story since he isn't my character, so if you like him, I'd go read the work of thedarkpokemaster : ) Hope you enjoyed and see you in the next chapter : )**


	68. Attack of the Zangin, An Ocean of Flames

**And here's the final part : ) Again, not a whole lot to say right now, just thanks to those who keep reviewing, and that Doctor who isn't mine, The Zangin, Trimonights, Shamano, and Trimor were made up by thedarkpokemaster, and Craig Tyler is owned by me! Read on at your own risk, because the Zangin are on the attack...**

**...**

**Attack of the Zangin – An Ocean of Flames**

'THREE…TWO…ONE…ARGHHHHHHHH!' the Doctor yelled at the top of his lungs and he desperately clung onto the console for dear life. The Tardis was shaking worse than ever before, like it was deliberately trying to send her inhabitants to a hospital bed. Rose screamed as controls set alight, and the room filled with fire and smoke, choking them. Shamano was around the other side of the console, trying hard not to be thrown off down the hall. Sparks rained down as the glass surrounding the time rotor began to crack. The lights in the walls began to blow and rain glass down on them as the room span faster and faster, like a blender, trying to destroy the three people inside.

'WHAT'S HAPPENING?!' Rose screamed in fear as she narrowly missed smashing her forehead against the control panel, whilst over her head there was another explosion, causing some of the glass in the time rotor to fall down on her.

'THE ZANGIN SHIP'S DEFENCES ARE TRYING TO KEEP US OUT' Shamano shouted to be heard over the explosive noises.

'THE TARDIS IS TRYING TO BREAK THROUGH THEM' the Doctor added.

'WHAT DEFENCES?!' she cried as the Tardis swayed violently again.

'FORCE-FIELDS, MAGNETIC REPELLERS, ALL SORTS, HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED ARE ZANGIN!' the Doctor yelled back.

'YEAH, BUT WE'RE BETTER!' Shamano bellowed back with a wild grin. There was one final massive explosion which ricocheted around the console room, knocking them all to the floor roughly, before silence fell.

'Well, we've arrived' the Doctor said quietly as he slowly got to his feet, rubbing his back. No doubt several large bruises would be there later. He quickly went over to Rose, who was whimpering slightly, but apart from a split lip which was bleeding, she was unharmed. Shamano had a black eye in the making seeing as he face had hit the corner of the captain's seat when he had fell, but likewise had no serious injuries. The Tardis however was in a worse state. It would take the Doctor quite a bit of time to fix all the damage done, but at least the fire had gone out by itself. It should be alright for another trip or two before it powered down though. He'd fix it all up as soon as Craig was safe, the Doctor promised himself.

'So what now?' Rose asked almost silently. She knew that they'd have to go out there; they didn't have much of a choice. Craig was out there. But did they go in all guns blazing or more subtly was what she was really asking.

'We go face them' the Doctor said grimly. Option one it was then.

'You do realise that the Tardis is probably surrounded by Zangin this very second?' Shamano asked him. He didn't sound nervous though, Rose noted. It was more like he was excited. Well that was all very well and good but the only thing she cared about in that moment was finding her Big Brother, and with that going through her mind, she headed towards the door. The Doctor, seeing this, hurried to get in front of her, not to stop her, but just to make sure that if anyone out there attacked, it would be him they got and not his precious Rose.

He breathed a deep sigh, before he bravely pushed open the door and stepped out, Shamano and Rose right behind him. He quickly shut the door, the last thing he needed was for Zangin to get their claws on it.

And it was a good thing that he did, because already they were surrounded, surrounded by the lizard creatures that had invaded the street in London. He knew those creatures well, the Zangin, and this time, he'd stop them once and for all. He wasn't going to let anymore planets fall to them, and definitely not the Earth.

He watched as the Zangin slowly emerged from the trees of the room they were in, which he noted had a sandy floor, and stood calmly and silently as their opponent's slowly moved towards them, all of them hissing and raising their claws. A larger one, who the Doctor immediately knew to be the leader, marched through the scaly crowd towards the Doctor, Rose, and Shamano, who all held their ground and didn't back away from him, despite his fierce appearance.

'The leader of the Zangin' the Doctor said in a harsh tone. But the leader ignored him, and instead turned to Shamano.

'Shamano, I see you still have refused to back down on this matter. I'd have thought you'd have learnt after the last time, after that pretty little friend of yours…' the leader started but Shamano cut him off.

'Don't you dare, don't you dare bring her into this' Shamano hissed enraged at the Zangin.

'Me?! I didn't bring her into this; you did that with your complex for playing the hero. And I see you managed to fill her shoes, this one is also beautiful' he pointed at Rose, who repressed the urge to shiver at his hissing tone.

'Don't even think about it' the Doctor chipped in here, his tone murderous.

'Sorry, I don't think we've met' the leader finally turned to the Doctor.

'Oh I've met you're species before, a long time ago… I'm the Doctor' he said sternly. Instantly the other Zangin began to mutter fearfully, whispering about the Doctor and Shamano being together and what this meant, but the leader, despite looking a little uneasy, refused to back down.

'SILENCE' he bellowed, and all the other Zangin fell silent at once. The leader took a deep breath, before continuing, talking to the Doctor now.

'So the legends about your kind were true then, you can change' he hissed. Rose blinked, the Doctor had changed… in what way?

'Yes, I can and I have. But the thing I want to know is how the Zangin are even still alive, I thought you lot were all wipe out' the Doctor replied.

'All but my ship. Only a few of us at first, but we're growing again, and soon we shall be strong enough to take this island and then the planet' the leader said smugly.

'And let me guess, you'll then move onto another planet until the Zangin Empire is established once more' the Doctor finished for him.

'The legends were also true about your intelligence and perceptiveness I see. Indeed, that is our goal, but right now I see another problem emerging' the leader rasped darkly. The Doctor tensed up slightly, but he wasn't going to give in yet.

'You're right about that, because me and Shamano, well, we won't allow that to happen. You know what we have both done, what we did to those who cross us, just imagine what we can do when we're together. Now you listen to me. Unless my friend Craig is released immediately and completely unharmed, I'll have no problem adding the Zangin to the species I've destroyed, so you better bear that in mind' the Doctor said darkly, not joking around. He really would do it; he'd rip the Zangin apart and completely burn them into dust if so much as one hair on Craig's head was harmed.

'I don't have to imagine that though do I?!' the Zangin hissed in rage.

'Do you threaten me Doctor! You murdered our ancestors, but we shall avenge them now! ZANGIN ATTACK!' he roared, and with roars of approval and battle cries, the Zangin began to charge forwards. The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and bolted, it was a good thing they both had so much practice in running as the Zangin were incredibly fast, given the grip they had against the sand.

'DOCTOR! GO FIND YOUR FRIEND! I'LL KEEP THESE BEASTS BUSY!' Shamano yelled over the roars of the Zangin. The Doctor turned his head and saw that Shamano hadn't ran like he and Rose had, but was still by the Tardis, and had thrown a small black sphere into the oncoming Zangin army, causing a small explosion which still took down a few of the lizard creatures attacking them. Then he had pulled out a strange gun, which was firing bolts of bright green energy at the Zangin, knocking them down. He was holding his ground rather well, and knowing that Shamano could handle himself quite well; the Doctor listened to his advice and quickly fled the room with Rose.

…

Craig wearily half opened his eyes. He felt terrible. He was so tired! It was like all of his energy had been drained out of him in a split second. And his head was pounding like an awful hangover. And he felt… odd. Like his entire body was tingling, like a small spark of… something was coursing through him. He strained to keep his tired eyes open enough to look around. He was still in the pod. He tried to lift his aching arms, but found that he couldn't. The machine had stopped, thank god, and he hadn't been converted by the looks of it, but he couldn't get out, he was trapped! The last thing he saw before he fell unconscious again was a thick metal pipe hanging down from the ceiling, like it had been blasted away by a powerful force. It was leaking some kind of strange bluish sparkling liquid out onto the floor of the pod, but thankfully it wasn't landing on Craig's helpless body yet. But the pipe was swaying and teetering right over him, posed to fall and pierce him given one wrong move. He let out a low groan of exhaustion as his eyes slipped shut and his mind fell back into darkness.

…

The Doctor skidded to a halt outside a large silver round door. He and Rose had emerged from the main room into a long winding corridor full of silver doors which were all identical. Rose kept going for a few steps before she realised that he had stopped moving. She quickly moved over to his side.

'What are you doing?' she hissed at him quietly. They had to find Craig and get out of there! They didn't have time to hang around!

'Hush a minute, just listen' the Doctor ordered her, his ear pushed up against the door. Rose scowled, but obeyed, and pressed her ear up against the metal door too, wincing at the coldness of it. On the other side was a loud humming noise, like a kind of generator or engine of something.

'Engine room?' she looked up at the Doctor with raised eyebrows.

'Could be, let's find out' the Doctor replied, taking his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. He quickly used it on the door, which slide away to let them pass. The two of them slowly stepped into the room.

It was huge, almost as big as a cathedral, and was circular. The floor had a large ring running along the walls of the room, then a large chasm beyond, connected to a smaller section of floor by a bridge, which he noted was covered in the green slime which was all over the place. On the island in the centre of the room was a huge black cylinder shaped generator, running all the way up to the ceiling and all the way down to the bottom of the chasm. The Doctor nervously peered over the edge of the floor. It was a long way down; he couldn't even see the bottom!

'The generator?' Rose asked, pointing at the black cylinder structure.

'Yeah… Right, Rose, you go back to the Tardis' he said, quickly getting down to business with the situation. But it seemed as though Rose had over ideas, and wasn't going to give in quite so easily.

'Not a chance, I ain't going anywhere!' she shot back at him angrily.

'Rose, it could get dangerous, now go back to the Tardis!' the Doctor shouted as he began to walk towards the bridge. He slowly began to walk on it, not wanting to rush in case he slipped on the goo under his feet.

'No! I am not leaving without you, and not without Craig either!' she was shouting herself now, but she didn't care. She was a grown woman, she could make her own choices, she didn't need the Doctor, or her mother, or Craig making her decisions for her!

'Rose, you're not safe' the Doctor said, turning back to look at her, trying to get his point across to her. His stomach plummeted when he saw that she too was carefully walking across the bridge, her arms spread wide to help her keep her balance on the slippery bridge they were both on.

'Rose!' he cried indignantly. She just gave him a pointed glare.

'Doctor!' she retorted and he sighed, knowing that as the daughter of Jackie Tyler, he had no hope of beating her in an argument.

'Ok, just… be careful' he gave in and she smirked at him before the two of them began to creep towards the island again. The Doctor made it first and turned back to watch Rose moving towards him, slowly but surely.

'Come on, you're almost there' he called out encouragingly to her.

But in a split second, Rose's foot slipped on the slime, and she fell towards the edge. She let out a scream as she tumbled over the side, her hair whipping around her face as she went over the edge.

'ROSE!' he yelled as he darted forwards, sliding a little himself. He sighed in relief when he saw that Rose had grabbed the edge of the bridge at the last second, but her hands were sliding in the slime, she was going to fall! Not if he had anything to do with it!

He crept forwards and reached out his hands, wrapping them around Rose's. Then he pulled, he pulled and tugged and tried his best to keep his feet from sliding out from under him.

'DOCTOR!' Rose yelled in fear as he struggled to pull her up to safety. The Doctor gave another huge pull, and finally she began to be move back over the edge of the bridge, slow at first but gradually more and more until she was back on it. She clung to him like a limpet as he pulled her form to his in a huge hug. She was shaking slightly as she looked down at the dark pit of death which she had very nearly fallen into.

'Now do you see why I wanted you to go back?' he asked her as they slowly stepped onto the safety of the non-slimy island.

'I still don't care, I'm not going anywhere without you and my brother' she said, remarkably firmly giving that fact that she was still trembling. The Doctor sighed again, those bloody Tylers! They could all be on their deathbeds and they'd still refuse to back down in an argument!

'Now what do we do to the generator?' Rose asked, deliberately trying to change the subject. The Doctor strode over to it, willing to drop the conversation about her near fatal accident for the time being, and examined the generator more closely.

It took him a while to figure out exactly what he needed to do to make it work, but the Doctor soon came up with a plan he was sure would work. The Zangin weren't going to back down, he knew that, so he had to make sure he stopped them, he couldn't let the earth fall to them. He just prayed that they all got out of this in one piece, including Craig.

He ran the sonic screwdriver over the generator again and again, changing its programming and settings, checking its links to all the teleports and conversion units and lights and every piece of equipment on the Zangin's ship. He needed to make sure that the entire ship was destroyed, that every single Zangin was wiped out for good this time. He hated it of course, he hated genocide, and even more so when he was about to commit it, but he had no choice, he had to stop them this time.

'There. Now, as soon as we get Craig out, I can use the sonic screwdriver to set the generator to self-destruct and I've linked it up to all the conversion units and every other piece of technology on this ship. It'll destroy them all, and take all the Zangin up with it' the Doctor explained for Rose's benefit.

'Well then, I guess the only thing left is for us to go get Craig then' Rose grinned, glad that all this would be over very soon.

'Yep, well come on then!' he laughed as he leapt to his feet and began the slow walk back across the slimy bridge again. Thankfully, this time they both made it across without any more accidents, and once they were back outside in the corridor, they were off running once again.

…

Craig moaned slightly as he began to wake up again. He was still stuck in the conversion unit, and the pipe was still dangling down over him. It looked weaker now, like it wouldn't last much longer. Craig did his best not to cry. If the pipe fell, it would go straight through him and probably through the metal beneath him. And if that didn't happen first, the Zangin would come and find him. He groaned as he heard the door opened and realised that that had just happened. Only it hadn't.

'He's in here!' yelled a familiar voice. Rose's voice.

'Rose' he gasped out weakly.

'Craig, it's alright, you're ok now' she said as she run into his line of vision. She put her hands to his face, checking him over. He seemed find, the same couldn't be said for the machine he was trapped in. It was like it had exploded or something had burnt it all.

'Rose… Rose, look out, the pipe' Craig weakly warned her. Rose turned her head upwards and saw the pipe hanging down over them.

'Oh shit' she muttered as the Doctor came into the pod they were in. He had been further up the corridor, opening the pod doors whilst Rose had been doing the same at the other end. Some of the sights she saw would haunt her forever, people halfway through their transformations, but she pushed those disturbing images from her mind and focused on the here and now. Her Big Brother.

'Craig' the Doctor said as he moved over the see his friend restrained by the machine.

'Doctor, quick… the pipe' Craig gasped out, his throat hurting from its dryness. The Doctor looked up and saw the pipe too and quickly brought up his sonic screwdriver.

'Rose, move back a bit' he said as he moved forwards. Rose took a step back, giving the Doctor more room to manoeuvre.

'Hurry, hurry' Craig said fearfully as the pipe lowered down a bit more, edging closer to him. It would fall on him at any second.

'Just stay calm' the Doctor whispered as he freed Craig's right wrist, then his left. The pipe creaked and dropped down a bit more as the Doctor knelt down and released his right ankle too. It groaned and creaked even louder as it dropped again. It finally fell just as the Doctor released Craig's other ankle and pulled him away from the unit. The Pipe stabbed through the metal and hung out, right in the place where Craig's stomach had been not a second before. Craig just stared in horror, panting for air, trembling in shock. The Doctor and Rose both put their arms around him comfortingly.

'It's ok, you're ok now. Zat-Radiation in liquid form, it's a good thing Shamano didn't come with us, this stuff would've killed him just being near to it' the Doctor said, indicating at the bluish silvery liquid spilling out from under the pipe, running down the metal surface to the floor. Then he frowned as a thought hit him, and he quickly turned to the man he had just rescued.

'Craig, what happened to the machine?' the Doctor asked worriedly.

'I… I don't know, it just… didn't work on me' Craig stuttered out. The Doctor frowned… the machine had to have malfunctioned, which was very lucky for Craig, but how had the machine been destroyed and burnt when Craig hadn't… that was… odd.

'Right, we've got Craig, now what, you set off the generator's self-destruct?' Rose turned to the Doctor who nodded.

'Rose, get back to Shamano, I need to check something. Craig, you stay and I'll help you in a minute' the Doctor said, seeing Craig swaying on the spot. He'd been held down for quite a while, so it wasn't surprizing his muscles weren't working as strong as they normally did. He turned to Rose and saw that she looked ready to argue, and so he quickly got in first.

'We'll be along in a minute, I swear it. Rose, this isn't me trying to send you to safety; you'll have to get through the battle between Shamano and the Zangin to get to the Tardis. I just need a few minutes, now go!' he cried, and sighing, Rose ran out of the pod. The Doctor quickly turned to Craig.

'What is it Doctor?' he asked tiredly.

'I don't understand something, what you did to this unit' the Doctor said, looking into his eyes.

'I didn't do anything. It… it started the process, it injected me with chemicals, four times I think… and then… I can't remember. I think I blacked out, it just hurt so much! And then the pain… it was just gone' Craig did his best to explained. The Doctor just stared at him for a few seconds. It didn't make sense. The machine couldn't explode like it obviously had but not harm Craig whilst it did so… so how had he done it. Craig had to have done something to it, but what could he have done, he was tied to it for god-sake, and besides that, Craig wouldn't lie to him, he'd tell him if he'd done something to the machine. He honestly didn't know how it had happened.

Someone else was at work here… but who was it?

He sighed; he didn't have time for this now. He had to stop this before Shamano and even worse, Rose or Craig actually died because of the fight going on. He could hear it even from here. The sounds of blasts of energy and screaming. He quickly brought up the sonic screwdriver and pressed the button. Instantly, the conversion unit in the pod they were in burst into flames as it exploded, raining metal and slime and fire down on them. The Doctor quickly grabbed Craig's hand and dragged him from the pod into the corridor. All the other pods were exploding too, given the many explosions that were blasting up and down the corridor. The Doctor began to lead Craig up it, the two of them running for their lives.

Gasping from breath, Craig panted heavily for air as he forced his protesting muscles to carry on, willing strength into them just for a bit longer. He had his arm around the Doctor's shoulder, who had his arm around Craig's back, helping the blonde along as they run as fast as they could up the corridor, fires and explosions filling the corridor behind them as they fled. The Doctor pulled Craig onwards as he staggered slightly, and after a few moments, with great effort on both their parts, they reached the door which led back to the central room of the ship.

Using the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor quickly opened the door just as another explosion blasted its way towards them, its flames licking at their heels as the two men fled the burning corridor into the main room. It was so horrible; the trees were all covered in red and orange flames which reached all the way up to the ceiling, consuming anything that got in their way. The sand was so hot they could feel it trying to scorch their feet through their shoes, and coughing loudly due to the smoke which blackened the room, they could just make out the shape of the Tardis ahead of them. Craig was amazed that it hadn't caught fire yet, given that it was made of wood.

Coughing and sputtering as the smoke did its best to choke the air from their lungs, the two of them, the Doctor helping a rapidly weakening Craig along, just made it to the door of the blue box when another explosion burnt through the room, the fires building all around them. The Doctor pushed the door open and all but threw Craig inside as he turned on the spot, looking around at the burning around him. This was all him, all of it, the burning, the fire of the last time lord, the burning brought on by the Oncoming Storm, he had done this. He had destroyed yet another species. But he had too… didn't he… before the Zangin destroyed the human race… he had done the right thing… hadn't he?

He looked out into the ocean of flames for another second, before he stepped into the Tardis and slammed the door shut behind him. He sprinted up to the console and warned his three companions to hold on tight before he began to pilot his ship away. He felt terrible, but as he looked around the console at Craig, still the wonderful human he admired and loved like a brother, he couldn't help the tiny smile which played at his lips. He had done it once again; he had saved his friend when the odds looked stacked against him once again, and that was, despite the cost, fantastic!

…

With a light thud, the Tardis landed, and the Doctor led the way out, the others right behind him. They looked around at their surroundings, and saw that they were back at the base of Big Ben; the Astronema was right in front of them. The four of them grinned slightly, glad to be back down on earth and relieved to have stopped the Zangin.

'So, is that it then?' Craig asked Shamano.

'Yep, I'd say so. None of the Zangin could have got out of there in time, and if they did they wouldn't have come out unscathed, so yeah… I think it's finally over' he nodded, a small sad smile on his face. He probably felt a sort of relief knowing that they were finally gone, but at the same time, he probably felt guilty about being the one to help destroy them.

'So, what are you going to do now?' Rose asked their newest friend softly. Shamano shrugged before he replied.

'The same as I am now I suppose. There's more than just Zangin to stop you know' he winked at them, knowing full well just how much they knew that to be true. The Doctor looked at Rose and Craig for a moment, silently communicating a question with them, before they both smiled and nodded, and he turned back to Shamano.

'And, I suppose if i were to say 'Come with us', you'd say?' the Doctor asked his old friend. Shamano smiled at him, but eventually shook his head.

'Sorry Doc, but… no. I know I called you in to help me, but to be honest, I sorta prefer travelling by myself now, well, since…' he cut himself off. The Doctor sighed, guessing it was to do with that mystery girl of his.

'Well, if you're sure, but the offer's always there if you like' the Doctor replied after a moment's silence.

'Cheers Doctor, one day I might even take you up on that' he grinned before he turned around to walk back to his own ship. He had just reached the bottom of the ramp which extended up to the doorway, when he paused and turned back.

'By the way, you certainly have an odd choice of travelling companions these days Doctor' he stated. The Doctor, Rose and Craig just blinked in confusion at him.

'There's something about them. It's like Craig is… I don't know, stuck or fixed or something. A fixed point in time, a fact, a never ending fact… and Rose, there's something even more unusual about her, a golden light and an echo of pain, rippling backwards through time' he said in a far-off sort of voice, like he was seeing and hearing things that they couldn't.

'What do ya mean?' Rose asked him nervously. He wasn't the first person to refer to pain in her future, and she couldn't help but shudder at that particular forewarning. Shamano just looked at her, deep into her eyes.

'I'm so sorry, so, so sorry for what is to become of you, but for you it shall be worth it all' he whispered, sounding horrified by whatever he was seeing, and before Rose could ask him why, the last of the Trimonights turned once again and walked up the ramp of his ship. The three of them just stood and watched it hover up into the sky, and then with a flash of light, it was gone. Rose and Craig quickly turned to face the Doctor, who gave them a small smile, before he turned and walked back into the Tardis, the two Tylers following him.

…

Craig had been sent to bed by the Doctor after he had yawned loudly in exhaustion, and so after giving Jackie a quick call to let her know that they were all alright and off travelling again, the blonde man was in his room fast asleep. Rose and the Doctor on the other hand, were still in the control room. The Doctor was under the console, fixing the damage done when they had forced their way onto the Zangin's ship, whilst Rose was sitting on the captain's seat, trying her best to work out what Shamano had meant before he left.

'What did Shamano mean Doctor?' she asked eventually when she couldn't figure it out alone, breaking the silence in the process.

'What about?' he feigned ignorance. He had a very good idea as to what this was about. The pain Shamano had mentioned about Rose. He too had been racking his brains trying to puzzle all this out, but even he couldn't work out what his friend had meant.

His only reasonable idea was that it was somehow tied up with Craig's DNA mutation. He had run a scan on Craig, unbeknown to the blonde man, as soon as they were back in the Tardis and the results were puzzling to say the least. It was like Craig had had a flare of energy inside him, forcing its way out of his body when he was in the conversion unit, like a defence mechanism. He had heard of such things before, defences the Time Lords could create in fact, but for a human to develop them by themselves naturally… impossible!

And then there was what Shamano had said about him being a fixed point in time… that just couldn't be. He'd have sensed it as soon as he had met the Tylers. God, none of this made any sense to him.

'You know what. What Shamano said about me… an echo of pain he said. It means, I'm going to suffer pain in the future, and it has to be enormous pain, for it to ripple backwards in time, surely. So what is it, what's going to happen to me?' she asked again.

'I honestly don't know Rose. All I can hope is that we can somehow prevent it from happening' he told her honestly. She let out a low sigh.

'He's not the first person to tell be something like that either. 'You shall suffer such a terrible loss because of your own choice, made because of the love you feel', Gwyneth told me that. And there was Owog in the Sky Kingdom too, he said 'Your heart shall break from the love you feel, the love you gave them all up for'… oh, and Ignitus too. He said ''Child of the vortex, it burns within you'. It's like every in the universe knows something, and are trying to warn me about it' she trailed off, lost in her thoughts.

The Doctor frowned as he paused in what he was doing under the console. She had a point there. There had been a lot of warnings about their future now that he thought about it. Over and over again, people all over time and space were warning them about their futures… but what did it all mean.

Neither of them said anything else after that. They were both too lost in their trouble thoughts, so they just sat in silence, and when the Doctor had fully repaired the damage to the Tardis two hours later, they bid each other goodnight and retreated to their rooms, hoping that tomorrow would bring a better day for all of them.

**...**

**And that's Attack of the Zangin done! Now, first of all I feel I should point out, this 'pain' Rose is going to suffer. This is pretty much the first obvious reference to my future Rose plots, but there are little clues littered in throughout the story. But it's a future plotline, and will make sense much, much later on, so don't read too much into it now, because it won't make much sense. As for the Craig plot, that'll make sense by the end of the story and in the sequel.**

**But onto more exciting news! As this is the last chapter of this particular Own Adventure, the next one shall be... The Empty Child! Yay! We all know what that means! We're nearly at Jack! I can't wait to hear your thoughts on what I've done to the episode! So, with Jack to look forward too, please review and see you in the next chapter : )**


	69. The Empty Child, War Time London

**And que Jack! Well, very nearly : ) Hope you enjoy this first chapter, and thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I don't own Doctor Who, but I do own Craig Tyler : )**

**...**

**The Empty Child**

**The Empty Child – War Time London**

One morning when Craig was walking down the hallway in the direction of the control room, he was in for a great surprize when he was nearly thrown off his feet. He raced into the room to find the Doctor working furiously at the controls, Rose holding on as tight as she could.

'What's happening?' Craig asked the obvious, holding onto one of the struts to make sure he didn't fall. He was wearing a pair of black jeans and a dark blue hoodie, which had a yellow and red gem shape on the chest with a large red S. It was a Superman Hoodie.

'Don't know yet, he hasn't told me. What's this emergency anyway?' Rose directed the last part at the Doctor. She was wearing a dark blue pair of jeans and a T-Shirt designed after a Union Jack Flag.

'It's mauve' the Doctor replied simply. He was being boring today, wearing his normal attire with a blue jumper.

'Mauve? So it's a fashion emergency' Craig joked, but the Doctor just looked solemn as he explained further.

'Mauve is the universally recognized colour for danger' he elaborated.

'What happened to red?' Rose asked in confusion.

'That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing' the Doctor shook his head as an image flickered onto the screen, and Craig bravely let go of the strut before running over and getting a grip on the console instead. He looked at the screen and saw a sort of blue and red rippling tunnel, and flying at speed through it was a strange metal cylinder was a pointed end at the front.

'What's that thing?' he asked.

'No clue yet, but it's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go' the Doctor grinned, proud of himself.

'And how safe is it?' Rose wanted to know. It wasn't exactly surprising to her now that chasing this thing could easily lead to trouble.

'Totally' the Doctor grinned, but suddenly something on the console exploded and the three of them yelped as sparks rained down on them. Both Tylers glared slightly at a guilty looking Time Lord.

'Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there' he quickly amended. Suddenly the thing they were following appeared to move a lot faster through the tunnel on the screen.

'Oh, no, no, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us' the Doctor exclaimed as he tried his best to keep on its tail, pressing buttons and twirling levers as fast as he could.

'Ok, so if you don't know what this thing is, why exactly are we chasing it?' Rose asked in confusion.

'It's mauve and dangerous. And about 30 seconds from the centre of London' the Doctor almost grinned and Craig sighed.

'I could have sworn you said this box wasn't just a London Hopper, well we certainly seem to keep ending up here don't we' he teased the Doctor, causing said alien to pout slightly. The thing on the screen vanished and the screen went blank, just as the Tardis landed with a bump that sent them all to the floor. Without missing a beat the Doctor was on his feet and out the door, Rose and Craig not a second behind him. As Rose closed the door, they found themselves to be in a dark alleyway behind some rather bleak looking houses. It was night time and the darkness was hanging thick around them.

'Do you know how long we can knock around space without having to bump into Earth?' the Doctor picked up the conversation.

'Five days? Or is that just when we're out of milk?' Rose giggled, remembering the shopping trip which had led to them going to the exhibition with the costume monsters.

'Of all the species in all the universe and it has to come out of a cow' the Doctor said sounding disgusted.

'So now what, we go find that thing on the monitor' Craig asked as they began to walk away from the Tardis.

'That's the idea. It must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month' the Doctor thought aloud.

'A month?! We were right behind it!' Rose exclaimed in shock as they rounded a corner into another dark alleyway.

'It was jumping time tracks all over the place, we're bound to be a little bit out. Do YOU wanna drive?' he pouted in reply.

'Well actually I wouldn't mind having a go, I might actually get us there without being late or with a rollercoaster of a journey' Craig stated, hiding a smirk as the Doctor laughed.

'Yeah right, like you could hope to beat me' the Doctor teased.

'HA! I bet I could drive my car quicker than you could fly the Tardis' Craig joked.

'However' the Doctor playfully huffed.

'So anyway, how much is 'a little'?' Rose broke up the teasing-challenge war before it went any further.

'A bit' the Doctor nodded.

'Is that EXACTLY a bit?' Rose asked sarcastically.

'Ish' he nodded again.

'You're useless' Craig grinned and the Doctor just laughed.

'What's the plan, then? Are you gonna do a scan for alien tech or something?' Rose wanted to know.

'Hello; it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm gonna ask' he said like it was obvious, digging around in his pocket until he brought out his psychic paper. He held it up for them to see.

'Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids' Rose read aloud.

'Psychic Paper, tells you…' he started to explain but was cut off.

'Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember' Rose nodded.

'Sorry' the Doctor pouted, mostly because he couldn't still impress them with the psychic paper anymore, just as the three of them reach a large black painted metal door, which was firmly shut and locked.

'Not very Spock, is it? Just asking?' Rose commented as he crouched door slightly, pressing his ear up against it. Through it he could hear laughing, singing, talking and some old style music drifting through it.

'Door - music - people. What d'you think?' he looked up at the two blondes.

'I think you should do a scan for alien tech' Rose told him as he brought out his Sonic Screwdriver.

'Gimme some Spock! For once, would it kill ya?' she exclaimed. The Doctor looked exasperatedly at the two of them, before he noticed what they were both wearing.

'Are you sure about that t-shirt?' he asked Rose, who looked down wondering at her Union Jack shirt.

'Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin' she replied softly. The Doctor looked over to Craig instead.

'And what's with the Superman look, because I'll tell you now, I'm the superhero of this group' he chuckled and Craig laughed.

'Nope, I am, I'm Super Craig' he grinned, balling up his fist and holding it above his head, like Superman did when he flew. The three of them laughed loudly for a moment before the Doctor turned back to open the door. Craig stopped laughing and lowered his hand as he heard something rather creepy behind him. He turned on the spot with a calculating look on his face.

'Muuuu-mmy?' a high pitched voice was asking through the darkness, and Craig looked around in wonder, trying to figure out where it had come from. Judging by the fact that Rose was also looking around, he was sure that she had heard it too.

'You hear that?' She asked him, and he swiftly nodded.

'Muuuu-mmy?' it sounded again. It was definitely a child's voice. The Doctor suddenly grinned as he managed to crack the lock open.

'Come on if you're coming. Won't take a minute' he stated as he slipped through the door, clearly not having heard anything at all.

'What should we do, that sounded like a child' Rose whispered to him.

'You go with him, I'll have a look around, just to be sure' Craig told her, and with a nod Rose slipped through the door and out of sight. Craig began walking forwards, looking up at the higher building in wonder.

'Muuuu-mmy?' the voice came again, and turning on the spot, Craig looked up and finally located the owner of the voice. It was a kid, not very old judging by his high, and oddly wearing a gas mask. He was standing on a roof top, slightly illuminated by the moon above,

'Doctor? Rose? There's a kid up there!' he called back to his companions, but the room was clearly too loud for them to hear him. He sighed, he couldn't just leave the kid up there; he could fall! Nope, there was only one thing to do, and with that thought in mind, Craig began to look for a way up.

…

Rose walked through the dark room. She could see a figure ahead of her, and speeding up her pace, she fell into stride with the Doctor.

'Where's Craig?' he asked when he saw her.

'There was a voice out there, he went to check it out' she shrugged and he nodded. They slowly followed the sounds coming from the other end of the dark corridor, the sound of happy voices and bubbly music. They could only hear that, and they had no idea that Craig was calling out to them.

They walked through one of those beaded doors slowly and quiet. They were in a restaurant sort of place, with black and white checkered floor tiles, darkened walls and wooden tables in various positions. And at though tables were people, all of whom were dressed in fancy suits and beautiful dresses, all silently walking a woman on a stage. She had curled brown hair and was wearing a very pretty silver beaded dress with a white fur sash trailing from both arms and around her back.

'For nobody else gave me the thrill, when I have found I love you still, it had to be you, wonderful you…' she was singing, and Rose couldn't help but sigh. The woman so reminded her of Marilyn Monroe right now.

The two stood quietly and walked the woman give her performance in peace. They didn't even realise that they had slipped their hands into the others and were both feeling fully content holding onto their… friend's.

…

Craig had ran around the building, trying to find a way up, finally finding a fire escape leading up the side of the building.

'Are you all right up there?' he called up to the young boy.

'Muuuuum-my?' the boy said in reply. Craig ran up the steps as fast as he could. He had only one thought in mind, and that was to get the child down and to safety.

…

'It had to be you' the singer finished off with, and after a rather jazzy after-tune, everyone began to applaud as she bowed and walked down off the stage. The Doctor and Rose were both grinning whilst they clapped, before the Doctor rushed up onto the stage. Rose groaned, no doubt this would end up embarrassing, but she remained where she was, she wasn't going to follow him up there and make an even bigger scene.

'Excuse me! Excuse me!' he cried, before he grabbed the microphone.

'Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick, eh... hello!' he said into it, waving cheerily as he gathered the focus of attention back onto the stage, and now himself.

''Eh... might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?' he asked. The complete silence was broken as a loud slapping noise could be heard. Rose had literally slapped her forehead in embarrassment. That had sound so ridiculous; she could just die on the spot merely through association. She'd be having words with him about this later, make no mistake!

Suddenly the entire audience started to laugh, and Rose looked around in wonder whilst the Doctor stared around in confusion. What exactly was so funny?

…

Craig had finished on the steps, but unfortunately they didn't extend all the way up to where the child was standing. Craig was still quite far down from him, but he'd find a way up there, he wasn't going to watch a child get hurt, no way!

'Mummy?' the boy looked down curiously at him. Craig wasn't sure what it was, but something about that Gas Mask gave him the creeps.

'Okay. Stay there! Don't move!' Craig shouted up commandingly at him, looking around for a way up. Luckily a rope was swinging down slightly. Craig looked up, he couldn't see what it was hanging from, but tugging on it he gathered it was strong enough to hold his weight. He sighed and braced himself, this was going to be a hell of a climb.

…

A good few minutes later and the Doctor and Rose were still totally confused.

'Sorry, have I said something funny?' the Doctor asked into the microphone, causing the audience to laugh even loudly. Groaning from this new humiliation, Rose walked over to the singer for earlier.

'Sorry, but what exactly are they all laughing at?' she asked.

'Where've you been living?' the singer giggled slightly.

'Errr…' Rose just looked even more lost. The singer sighed, clearly thinking that Rose was a bit dim.

'Look, over there, now can you see why his 'falling from the sky' joke is funny' she asked, pointing at something on a wall. Rose looked at it and her face fell. On it was a poster, a poster of an orange and yellow stripy background with a spitfire plane in the foreground. The words 'HELP US WIN THE WAR' were emblazed across it. Now she wasn't really into history, that was more Craig's subject, but she knew what the poster was referring to, and why the Doctor's question had sounded like a joke. She let out a sigh; they never made it easy did they?

'It's just, there's this thing I need to find, would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago' the Doctor continued obliviously. She sighed and waved her hand frantically, trying to get his attention, but he didn't notice whilst at the same time a loud siren sounded. Immediately people seemed to become downcast and leaving the room without as much as a backwards glance.

'Would've landed quite near here…' the Doctor weakly continued, looking curiously up at the ceiling as to where the siren noise was coming from.

'With a very loud…' he was saying softly, nearly losing the sentence in his deep thought. Rose sighed and hopped up onto the stage. She silently pointed through the parting crowd at another poster, this one saying 'HITLER WILL SEND NO WARNING'. The Doctor frowned sadly, looking from her to the poster.

'Bang...' he finished as he closed his eyes in despair.

'We're in World War Two' Rose whispered and with his eyes still closed he nodded. They both let out a sigh; this wasn't what they'd call fantastic.

…

Craig grunted slightly. It was taking quite a lot of effort to climb up the rope. His feet were against the brick work and he was pulling himself up with his arms.

'Mummy…' the boy called down to him. Craig sighed, how the hell had that kid got up there in the first place?!

'Balloon!' he cried and Craig looked up, and his mouth fell open. He had thought the rope was hanging down from where the child was standing, but it wasn't. It extended high into the sky, and was in fact hanging down from a massive, spongy looking, silvery balloon, a barrage balloon! And to make it even worse, it suddenly began to drift off, with him still holding on! He let out a startled yelp as he was swept away from the roof-top, dangling high in the air above the alleyway.

'DOCTOR!' he yelled as he drifted away from the roof top and saw the Tardis below him, but it was getting further away, or more accurately, he was getting higher into the night air.

'ROSE! DOCTOR!' he yelled as he was carried higher and higher until soon he could see the whole of London stretching out beneath him. In fact, he was hanging in the air not far from London Cathedral. But something was wrong, there seemed to be fire all over the city, the air was noisy and something was behind him. The rope twisted him around as his eyes widened in panic. He was hanging from a barrage balloon, and a pack of German war planes were flying straight at him! And he had a bloody Superman icon over his chest! So, so, SO NOT FANTASTIC!

…

The Doctor had immediately grabbed a hold of Rose's hand and the two of them had bolted from the drinking den, both looking around for the third party of their group.

'Craig!' Rose called out, but he was nowhere to be seen.

'Tardis! He must have gone there' the Doctor suggested, and with a swift nod, the two of them ran down the alleyway and around the corner. They ground to a halt in surprize as a loud meowing caught their attention. Sitting on top of a dustbin was a small black and white kitten.

'Aw, he's so cute' Rose cooed, she loved cats, and this one was adorable! The Doctor gently picked hi, up and held him close as Rose gently stroked his little head.

'You know... one day. Just one day, maybe... I'm gonna meet someone who gets the whole 'don't wander off' thing' the Doctor said to the cat.

'Hey! I'm here!' Rose pointed out, somewhat indignantly. It was her brother that had disappeared after all, not both of them!

'Platform One, 1869 Cardiff, remember those?' he countered with a light smile and Rose grinned and shook her head. She was about to reply with something pretty witty, but was cut off as behind them the sound of a phone started. They both turned on the spot and the Doctor's brow furrowed in confusion as he put the cat back down and briskly walked over to the big blue box, a curious Rose with him. He opened the compartment behind the sigh on the door where the phone is held, and he held it out from him, like he was afraid it would bite or something.

'How can you be ringing? What's that about? Ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?' he asked as he took his Sonic Screwdriver out.

'Well it's a phone, you answer it' Rose giggled.

'I wouldn't answer it if a were you. It's not for you anyway' a voice spoke up from behind them, and turning back, they saw a young woman, in her late teens or early twenties at the most standing not too far away. She was pretty short and had dark brown hair hanging in two long plats and was wearing a buttoned up long blue coat. The two of them stared at her questioningly.

'And how do you know that?' the Doctor asked slightly suspiciously, how could this girl possible know who was calling and why?

'Cos I do. And I'm tellin' ya - don't answer it' she repeated warningly.

'Well, if you know so much, tell us this, how can it be ringing?' he said as he and Rose turned to look at the still ringing phone.

'It's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not…' he was saying as they turned to look back at the girl, but she had vanished.

'You see where she went?' the Doctor asked confusedly to Rose.

'Nope, sorry' she shook her head. They just shook their heads in wonderment, before turning back to the ringing phone.

'Well you'd better answer it' Rose commented softly, and slightly hesitantly he picked it up and held it to his ear. He tried not to blush as Rose press her ear up against the other side of it, choosing to ignore the way that she was pressed up against his body.

'Hello?' he asked, but there was only silence aside from some small static.

'This is the Doctor speaking' he decided to go with, but still there was only crackling static, and now some soft giggles from Rose.

'How may I help you?' he asked in an almost mocking tone. This had to be some kind of wind up or joke, most likely from one certain missing Craig Tyler. It was because of that presumption that he nearly dropped the phone in shock when a voice started talking.

'Mummy?' a boy's voice asked and his face soon became a frown.

'Mummy?' the boy repeated.

'Who is this? Who's speaking?' the Doctor asked in all seriousness now. This could be important. After all, how could a young boy, a mere child, ring a phone that wasn't even a phone?

'Are you my mummy?' the boy asked.

'Who is this?' he asked more forcefully, determined to get an answer.

'Mummy?' the boy asked again, followed by silence.

'How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone, it's not wired up to anything, it's…' he trailed off.

'Mummy?' the boy asked again before the line went dead. The Doctor slowly placed the phone back onto the cradle attached to the compartment of the Tardis before he closed its door.

'What was that about?' Rose asked curiously.

'No clue' he told her honestly.

'Craig went off to find a boy calling out 'Mummy'' Rose said thoughtfully. Instead of replying, the Doctor opened the door and poked his head inside.

'Craig? Craig, are you in there?' he asked but with no reply, he withdrew his head and closed the door again. Suddenly there was a loud crash from somewhere behind them, and without missing a beat, they both ran towards it. They hurried out of the alleyway, straight into an empty street, and whatever had caused the crash, was nowhere in sight.

'What is going on?' a very confused Rose asked. Instead of getting a reply, she heard a new voice floating down from the over side a large fence they were standing near. Following the voice, she and the Doctor stood on top of a dustbin, holding each other close to keep their balance, and peered over the top of the fence.

On the other side was fairly nice garden and house, but all the lights were out, the curtains drawn, the windows taped up.

'The planes are coming. Can't you hear them? Into the shelter. None of your nonsense, now MOVE it!' a rather large woman was saying, ushering a small boy into a large metal sort of shed, an air-raid shelter. She had brown hair pinned back and was wearing a flora patterned blue dress.

'Come on, come on, get in there' she said as the boy walked into the shelter and out of sight. She turned back towards the house.

'Arthur! Arthur! Will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the sirens?' she yelled, and an equally large balding man in grey trousers and a cream shirt under a brown jumper came out, looking a little bit more than narked.

'Middle of dinner, every night. Bloomin' Germans. Don't they eat' he asked his wife in frustration.

'Oh I can hear the planes!' she said worriedly.

'Don't you eat?!' he yelled at the sky.

'Oh, keep your voice down, will ya? It's an air raid!' she snapped at him as he approached the shelter. She lightly pushed him in and followed him down there, closing the door behind her.

'Get in... Look there's a war on' they could hear her saying as they went lower.

'I know there is… don't push me' was the reply they heard before the voices got too muffled to distinguish. The Doctor and Rose just grinned and hid their giggles at the scene they had just secretly witnessed. Suddenly Rose spotted something a little more interesting.

'Look' she nudged the Doctor, indicating with her head. It was the girl, the girl who had told them not to answer the phone. She was sneaking through the garden, towards the house, totally unaware that she was being watched by the two of them.

'So what now?' she asked.

'Now, we find out what she knows' he said softly as he hopped down from the bin and held his arms wide. She jumped down into them and they laughed slightly.

…

Craig had decided that he was going to kill that kid if he ever saw him again. There he was, trying to help, and look where he was now. Hanging onto a rope for his life thousands of feet above a war torn London, dressed like a flipping superhero, and where were the Doctor and Rose? Nowhere flipping near, that's where!

He yelped in surprize as a plane whizzed narrowly passed him and the rope swung. He yelled slightly as his fingers began to slip, getting sliced and cut on the rope's hard surface but thankfully he managed to keep his grip. But he didn't know how much longer he could hold on for, his hands hurt like hell! He had no idea that down below, someone was watching him through a pair of rather futuristic binoculars. Or more accurate that his ass was being checked out with said binoculars. And he definitely had absolutely no way of knowing that a very handsome man was on his way to come meet him.

**...**

**And that's the first chapter : ) Hope you all enjoyed, and can't wait until we get to Jack : ) See you in the next chapter!**


	70. The Empty Child, A Scared Little Boy

**Hey readers! Here's part two of The Empty Child. WOOHOO! I can't believe it! Chapter 70! Fantastic! I really hope you all enjoy, and please remember that whilst Craig Tyler is mine, Doctor who is not. Enjoy : )**

**...**

**The Empty Child – A Scared Little Boy**

After quickly checking that the coast was clear, the Doctor and Rose hopped over the fence, into the back garden of the house they had seen that girl go into. Now, they were crouched near the kitchen windows, peering over the bottom of them slightly. Inside, the girl was stuffing various pieces of food into her bag, before she walked out of the door, further into the house and out of sight.

Rose silently turned to look at the Doctor.

'So what's the plan?' she whispered to him.

'Sssh, come on' he replied in a quiet tone, gently grabbing her hand and pulling her into the kitchen, or at least he tried to, but Rose was resisting.

'We can't just go in there, it's trespassing!' she hissed

'We need to know how she knew about the phone call. It should have been impossible for anyone, never mind a child, to phone a phone which isn't a phone' he told her. Sighing, Rose gave in and allowed the Doctor to steer her into the house. They pressed themselves against the wall on either side of the door, the Doctor peering through the slightly ajar door. Unfortunately, he couldn't see the girl at first.

He jumped back slightly into the shadows when the girl came out of the Dining room, but thankfully she went out the front door. They heard a loud whistle, like someone was being summoned, and moments later the girl came back inside, seconds later two kids began to follow her.

With wide eyes, Rose looked at the Doctor.

'What now?' she mouthed at him. The Doctor paused, clearly trying to think of something. He wanted to go confront her now, but maybe having a room of kids see the conversation wouldn't be a good thing. There were only two children there now, but the Doctor had a feeling more and more would soon show up.

'Hold tight for now' the Doctor mouthed back. He pressed his ear against the wall, trying to hear what was being said. He could just about hear what the conversation in the dining room consisted of, but it was extremely muffled.

'Many kids out there?' the girl asked.

'Eh... yes, miss' a boy answered, a teenager judging by his voice. There was a pause, before the girl spoke again.

'Ah - still carving. Sit and wait' the girl commanded. Seeing as there was no reply, the Doctor assumed that the boys had complied.

'We've got the whole air raid' the girl continued.

'Look at that. Bet it's off the black market' the boy said, sounding pretty awed and amused.

'That's enough' the girl told him softly but the Doctor could hear the smile in her voice.

'We'll wait and see what happens for now' the Doctor whispered over to Rose, who nodded without saying a word, keeping quiet as the Doctor pressed his ear against the wall once more.

…

Whilst the Doctor and Rose were hiding in the kitchen, with the only threat to them was being caught, Craig was in a much more serious position. He was still dangling down over war-torn London, but he was still holding onto the rope of the barrage balloon for now.

A plane suddenly whipped by him, and for a fraction of a second Craig's eyes widened in panic. It wasn't the fact that the plane had so narrowly missed him. Emblazoned on the side of the plane in bid bold letter were two words, 'BAD WOLF'.

Craig gulped as he thought back to what the Face of Boe had said to him so long ago.

_'You will be close to giving up hope' _

The Face of Boe had warned him that things would look dire for him one day, and things were looking pretty bad for him right now, he couldn't hold on for much longer! And if he let go he would definitely be a goner!

_'Big Ben aglow in the fire light' _Was this what he had meant? He was back in London and there was fires and burning down below. It seemed to fit, or was he in the right place at the wrong time?

Was this what he had meant? What the BAD WOLF meant? That when they met Craig would shortly die afterwards? The Face of Boe had said their encounter had been intense, but did dying count as intense?

Suddenly he was startled from his troubled thoughts as a plane exploded just below him. It caused a sudden change in the air currents, swing the rope and causing Craig to lose his grip.

He opened his mouth in a primal scream as he tumbled through the air. He looked up; the sky was going to be the last thing he ever saw as he kept on screaming. He thought of the Doctor and Rose, of Jackie and Mickey, and even Mark. The fact that he would never see any of them ever again.

He kept on falling, and as he did, his nerves mounted, and as they did, so did the volume of his screaming, until suddenly… he stopped. In mid-air, Craig Tyler stopped falling to his death!

'What the…' he cried in surprize. Around his was a strange sort of tunnel. A bright blue light had surrounded him and was keeping him from falling, keeping him safe. And it extended down to somewhere near Big Ben as far as the somewhat relieved blonde could tell.

'Okay, okay, I've got you' a voice called out to him. It was a strong male voice, with an American accent, and even though this was a really bad time, Craig couldn't help but notice just how sexy it sounded.

'What?! I… Who? Who's got me, and you know... how?' Craig stuttered in confusion.

'Listen, don't worry, you'll be safe in a moment. I'm just programming your descent pattern. Keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light field' the voice assured and commanded him at once.

'Descent pattern?' Craig blinked in confusion.

'Oh, and could you switch off your cellphone?' the voice requested, sounding like a pilot of a luxury holiday airline plane.

'You what…?' Craig said, even more confused and thinking the voice was kidding, perhaps trying to lighten his fear with humour. If that was the case he was pretty rubbish at it!

'Are you messing with me or something?' Craig asked in disbelief.

'No, seriously… it interferes with my instruments' the voice told him swiftly.

'Fine, but you know no-one ever believes that' Craig said as he took his phone from his pocket before turning it off.

'Thank you. That's much better' the voice commented, and Craig snapped. It wasn't so much what he had said, but the voice sounded so… _calm_, and he was anything but!

'Oh yeah, you're right that's a huge weight off the both of us ain't it?! Never mind the fact that I'm floating in the sky whilst a flipping German air raid blows up London around me… with this stupid bloody Superman logo over my chest, I don't have anything to worry about seeing as my mobile phone is turned off!' He ranted at the owner of the voice, sarcasm dripping from every word. The voice just laughed though, pretty good naturedly at that, and once again, Craig noticed that his laugh was pretty sexy too. So sexy, he had to hide the tiniest of smiles at hearing it.

'Be with you in a moment' the voice chuckled at him. Craig sighed in annoyance, looking around at the planes heading towards him, before a few moments later the voice sounded again.

'Ready for you. Hold tight!' the voice commanded. Craig blinked. What the hell was there for him to hold onto in mid-air!

'To what?!' he cried in annoyance.

'Fair point' the voice replied, before suddenly the force keeping Craig in place was gone, and he shot down the tunnel like it was a giant blue tunnel slide, screaming in fear all the way. He closed his eyes as he saw a bright white light getting closer, and just as he thought he had finally reach the end, he felt a pair of arm wrapped around him, holding him close.

'I've got you! You're fine, you're just fine. The tractor beam, it can scramble your head just a little' the voice told him gently, and still frightened, Craig slowly opened his eyes. He mouth threatened to drop open.

Grinning down at him was a man, and a remarkably good looking one at that. In fact, he was so good looking, Craig blushed rapidly as he realised the man was still carrying him bridal style.

He had dark brown hair, combed over to one side. He had slightly tanned skinned, but not overly so, it was just nice. His bright blue eyes glinted warming down at him, and he flashed him another grin, revealing his perfect teeth. And because he was pressed right up against him figure, Craig could feel a perfect set of abs underneath his coat. The man was wearing long blue coat, made from the typical woolly material for world war two, and under it the man wore a green sort of army suit. A light blue shirt with a red tie was worn over his chest too.

Craig stared at him for a moment. It wasn't like him to be stunned into silence over a good looking guy, but this guy, this guy he could practically swoon over. He was just so…so hot!

'Hello' the blonde managed to say after a few moments of silence, although it came over completely breathlessly and in awe almost. The man raised his eyebrows before looking him up and down, smiling widely, his eyes glowing with attraction. Craig smiled slightly as he realised the man seemed just as interested in him as Craig was in him.

'Hello' he winked sexily at him. Craig had to mentally force himself not to growl in pleasure at that wink being directed at him.

'Hello' Craig repeated, unable to think of anything else. The man smiled in amusement, raising his eyebrow and nodding.

'Oh. Oh dear, that was hello twice there. Oh well, at least I'm thorough' Craig shrugged, well, as much as one could shrug whilst being cradled against a hot man's chest.

'Are you all right?' the man asked, looking at him with tender concern in his eyes.

'Fine' Craig nodded, but in reality he felt a little bit dizzy and nauseous. The man carefully set him down on his own feet, but still holding him close in case he fell. Instead of falling though, Craig beamed up at him.

'Why, are you expecting me to pass out or something?' Craig asked him cheekily.

'Well, you do look a little dizzy…' the man stated softly, looking Craig over, worry lining his face.

'What about you? You're the one who's gone all blurry... oh shit' Craig gasped as his eyes rolled back and he fell unconscious. He could hear the man laugh for a moment, before he felt those broad sexy arms wrap around him again, and he was gently laid on something soft.

…

The Doctor and Rose were still in hiding, the nerves growing slightly at the thought of being caught before they could use surprize to their own advantage. More children had arrived and they still listened in on the conversation through the wall, the Doctor trying to determine the best time to go interrupt.

'It's GOT to be black market. He couldn't get all this on coupons' the boy from before laughed.

'Ernie… how many times? We are guests in this house. We will not make comments of that kind. Washing up' the girl said in a severe tone of voice. The other children could clearly be heard laughing at the boy's, Ernie's, misfortune.

'Oh, Nancy!' Ernie protested. Ah! Nancy! So that was the girl's name!

But Nancy must have ignored his complaint, for when she spoke again, it sounded as though she was talking to somebody else.

'Haven't seen you at one of these before' she softly commented.

'He told me about it' another boy's voice said, although this one sounded to be about eight or nine years old. The Doctor looked over to Rose, and slowly nodded. They silently went through the door into the hall, stopping outside the dining room door, which was wide open.

'Sleeping rough?' Nancy asked as the Doctor and Rose slipping into the room, although nobody noticed them. They ducked under the table, and carefully made their way to the other end, creeping out from under it and hiding by crouching at the other end.

'Yes, Miss' the owner of the voice replied.

'All right then' Nancy nodded as she picked up a plate, on which were several cuttings of chicken.

'One slice each, and I want to see everyone chewing properly' she said sternly as she passed the plate to another young boy. Everyone was so excited as they looked at the tasty looking meat that they didn't see the Doctor and Rose take two unoccupied seats next to each other.

'Thank ya, miss!' the first boy said, loading a large piece of chicken onto his own plate. He went to pass the plate to a girl next to him, but an older boy, probably Ernie, leaned over and took the plate for himself. The girl's mouth fell open in disbelief, causing Rose to giggle slightly, but not loud enough to attract attention.

'Thanks, Miss!' Ernie grinned, taking a huge piece of chicken for himself.

'Thank you Miss' the boy next to the Doctor said, passing the plate along without even looking at who he was passing it too. The Doctor grinned and took it, whilst Rose struggled to keep in her laughter.

'Thanks, Miss!' the Doctor beamed, and Rose's silence broke. She laughed fondly at him as all the children in the room gasped loudly and jumped out of the chairs, ready to make a run for it. Only Nancy was in her original position, she didn't even look that surprized by their sudden appearance.

'It's all right! Everybody stay where you are!' she tried to restore order. The children just stared at the Doctor and Rose in shock, one boy even had a piece of meat hanging out of his mouth.

'Good here, innit? Who's got the salt?' the Doctor asked with a bright smile.

'It's here' Rose giggled as she leaned across the table and passed it too him. Smiling, he poured a little onto his chicken before taking another bite of it.

'Urrm! That's Fantastic! Thanks' the Doctor grinned down at her, looking like a kid on Christmas, making her laugh even more at his excited boyish expression.

'Back in your seats! They shouldn't be here either' Nancy told them all, and slowly the children nervously sat back down. The Doctor smiled at them, and Rose even gave them a little wave to show them that the two of them were friendly and to try and put the kids at ease a bit.

'So, you lot... what's the story?' the Doctor asked.

'What d'you mean?' Ernie asked.

'You're homeless, right? Living rough?' the Doctor asked.

'Why d'you wanna know that? Are you a copper?' one of the boys asked.

'Sorry, what was your name?' Rose asked.

'Jim' the boy replied.

'Well Jim, we most certainly are not coppers. Anyway, why would the old bill by after you lot, what'll they do, arrest you for starving?' Rose asked jokingly, and the children all laughed, the ice broken. The Doctor smiled at her again, impressed at how easily she had just made the tension in the whole room drop, but then again, that was his Rose!

'I make it 1941, you lot shouldn't be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now' the Doctor thought aloud after a moment.

'I was evacuated. They sent me to a farm' another boy said.

'So why'd you come back?' Rose asked curiously, feeling sorry for them all, being took away from their families. And that made her think of her mother, god she hoped Jackie was OK, she'd have to convince the Doctor to take them back soon.

'There was a man there…' the boy shuddered at the thought.

'Yeah, same with Ernie. Two homes ago' Jim cried, jerking a thumb in Ernie's direction.

'Shut up. It's better on the streets anyway. Better food' Ernie shrugged the comment off.

'Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us' Jim smiled in Nancy's direction, as did the Doctor and Rose, but Nancy did not look to friendly back at them.

'So, that's what you do is it, Nancy?' the Doctor asked her with a smile.

'What is?' she questioned slightly coldly.

'As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal, still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and - bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all! As long as the bombs don't get you' the Doctor grinned.

'Something wrong with that?' Nancy asked defensively.

'Wrong with it? I think it's Fantastic!' Rose smiled warmly at her.

'Rose is right, but I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical' the Doctor grinned, but the children all looked confused at his joke, whilst Rose giggled at it slightly. There were a few moments of silence, before Nancy opened her mouth to speak.

'Why'd you follow me? What d'you want?' she asked softly.

'I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call. You seem to be the one to ask' the Doctor told her honestly.

'I did you a favour. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling ya' Nancy said firmly, clearly she wasn't going to change her mind about that either.

'Great, thanks. And I wanna find a blonde man wearing a yellow and red gem-shaped symbol on his chest. I mean a specific one, I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving' the Doctor joked, and the children laughed again. Rose literally spat out the water she had just drank. The Doctor turned to her questioningly.

'I can't believe you just insinuated that!' she roared with laughter.

'I'm can assure you that if I were to go that way, Craig would be thoroughly satisfied by my services' the Doctor said, barely managing to keep a straight face, whilst Rose clutched at her side, laughing uncontrollably. The Doctor laughed for a moment too, Nancy however looked less than impressed, and stood up, before she marched around the table towards the Doctor.

'But anyway, Blonde and a symbol. Anybody seen a man like that?' the Doctor asked, turning back to the children, before Nancy suddenly whipped his plate away.

'What've I done wrong?' the Doctor asked indignantly, a pout on his face.

'You took two slices' Nancy told him sternly. The children all laughed at him, Rose howling with laughter at his expression. Oh she really liked this girl for that, that was totally fantastic!

'No blonde men… no red and yellow gem symbols. Anything else before the two of ya leave?' Nancy snapped at them as she walked back around the table.

'Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking. Something I've been looking for would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb' the Doctor said as he took a notebook out of his pocket.

'Not the usual kind anyway. Wouldn't have exploded. Would've just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would've looked something like... this' he said as he sketched a shape on the pad. He showed all the children and Nancy his scribbled drawing of the thing he, Rose, and Craig had chased here in the Tardis. Rose noticed that Nancy was looking at the picture intensely for a moment, before they all jumped as there was a knock on the window.

'Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?' a voice drifted in. The Doctor went to the window and pulled the curtain aside before Rose could stop him. She recognised that voice after all, that was the voice she and Craig had heard, just before Craig had vanished. Oh he had better be alright or there would be hell to pay!

The Doctor blinked as he looked out and saw a child with a gasmask on his face is standing there, knocking on the glass.

'Mummy?' the boy tilted his head.

'Who was the last one in?' Nancy asked behind them, and the Doctor and Rose turned back to face the other people in the room. All the children looked terrified and Nancy was speaking to them in an urgent voice.

'Them two' Ernie gestured at the Doctor and Rose.

'Nah, they came round the back. Who came in the front?' Nancy asked quickly.

'Me' the boy from before admitted in a whisper.

'Did you close the door?' Nancy asked him.

'I…' the boy started but Nancy spoke over him.

'Did you close the door?' she demanded.

'Mummy? Mummy?' the boy outside repeated, and looking out, the Doctor saw him heading towards the front door, which was standing open ajar.

'Muuuuum-my?' the boy said as he made his way too it.

Nancy sprinted from the room, the Doctor and Rose right behind her to see what she was up too. She rushed down the hallway and bolted the door shut before the boy could get inside. Then she started to back away, looking at the boy's shadow on the window, her face terrified.

'What's this, then? It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know' the Doctor said softly to her. Rose immediately agreed with the Doctor and felt a wave of pity rush through her for the little boy. After all, leaving somebody out of the gang was always a cruel thing to do, or at least that was her thoughts on the subject.

'I suppose you'd know' Nancy shot at him.

'I do actually, yes' the Doctor nodded, smiling pleasantly at her when Nancy turned to face him.

'It's not exactly a child' she told them in panic.

'Muuuuum-my?' the boy repeated from the other side of the door. Startled, Nancy pushed her way between the two of them, back into the dining room, where the children were all still in their seat, albeit looking scared out of their wits.

'Right, everybody out, across the back garden and under the fence' Nancy quickly instructed them, but they just stared at her, all of them stunned.

'Now! Go! Move!' she cried at them, snapping them back into action. They all jumped out of their seats and ran out of the door whilst Nancy put her coat back on. Only one little girl was left in her seat. The poor thing looked to be only four or five at the most.

'Come on, baby. we've got to go. Okay? It's just like a game. Just like chasing' Nancy said to her in a soft kind voice as the girl got out of her seat.

'Take your coat, go on' Nancy urged her on, and the girl quickly left, following all the other children. The Doctor and Rose just watched them pass, very confused.

'Mummy?' the boy outside asked again. The Doctor took a few steps towards the door, before Rose grabbed his arm. Confused, the Doctor looked down at her.

'What's wrong?' he asked her.

'Don't let him in. Craig went to go find him, and now he's missing, don't let him in' Rose almost begged of him. Normally she would be there and willing to help anyone, but she had a really bad feeling about that little boy; she just didn't know what it was about him.

'But he's just a kid' the Doctor shook his head. He was worried about Craig too, but he couldn't see how this little boy could possibly have done anything to hurt Craig. Maybe if he wasn't human, but he surely was.

'Please let me in, mummy' the boy pleaded. The Doctor moved forwards, and Rose let out a sigh, but moved down the hall after him nevertheless.

The boy stuck his hand through the letterbox, and they could see a scar on the back of his perfectly ordinary little hand.

'Please let me in, mummy' he begged again.

'Are you all right?' the Doctor asked in concern.

'Please let me in' the boy asked again. Before the Doctor or Rose could reply, a vase was flung at the door, shattering against it. The boy quickly withdrew his hand, whilst the Doctor and Rose turned, seeing that it was Nancy who had thrown the vase.

'You mustn't let him touch ya' Nancy warned them urgently.

'What happens if he touches us?' the Doctor wanted to know.

'He'll make you like him' Nancy said stiffly.

'And what's he like?' Rose asked, but Nancy didn't want to tell. She made to walk away.

'I've gotta go' she shook her head.

'Nancy, what's he like?' the Doctor repeated Rose's question more forcefully. Nancy turned and looked him dead in the eye, and after a pause, she gave in.

'He's empty' she said sadly. Before they could ask what that meant, the Doctor and Rose both jumped as a black telephone on the hall table began ringing. The three of them looked at in, somewhat unnerved.

'It's him. He can make phones ring, he can. Just like with that police box you saw' Nancy said fearfully. The Doctor looked at the shadow of the child outside the door, before he picked up the phone.

'Are you my mummy?' the boy's voice came from down the phone. Now that was weird. Clearly the boy was talking, but he was right outside the door! That was impossible!

Before the Doctor could talk to him, Nancy had snatched the phone from him and slammed it back on the receiver. Suddenly music began to float out of the dining room, and the three hurried back into the room. The radio had turned itself on, and was playing music; only the boy's voice was speaking over it.

'Mummy? Please let me in, mummy' he asked. They jumped as a toy monkey suddenly began to work as well. It was one of those ones that talked and clapped its symbol hands at the same time. But once again, the boy's voice was coming from it.

'Muuuuum-my? Muuuuum-my, Muuuuum-my' it chanted. Rose stared it at as the Doctor picked it up of its shelf.

'You two can stay if yous want to' Nancy said in fear, before she turned and left the room, quickly fleeing the house too.

The letterbox rattled again as the monkey stopped, and slowly, the Doctor and Rose went back into the hallway.

'Mummy? Let me in please, mummy' the boy pleaded with them again.

The Doctor knelt down in front of the door, looking at the scarred little hand with a look of concern on his face. Rose stood just behind him, looking fearful but she wasn't about to leave her friend behind.

'PLEASE let me in' he begged again.

'Your mummy isn't here' the Doctor told him. There was a pause before the boy spoke again.

'Are you my mummy?' the boy asked. Rose blinked in confusion, why didn't the boy know who his own mummy was?

'No mummies here. None body here but us chickens' the Doctor told him with a small smile on his face.

'Hey! I'm no chicken' Rose told him indignantly. The Doctor turned to look back at her, smiling apologetically, before he turned back to the door.

'Well, THIS chicken' he amended, if only to appease Rose. In his opinion, a beautiful swan would be much more fitting to her, but he wasn't going to tell her that of course!

'I'm scared' the boy told them in a small voice.

'Why are those other child frightened of you?' Rose asked nervously.

'Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs' the boy told them. He did sound pretty afraid, and the Doctor was never one to sit back whilst there were children crying, so he made a decision.

'Okay. I'm opening the door now' he told the voice. Rose immediately stood defensively, ready to run if need be.

The child withdrew his hand from the letterbox as the Doctor stood up and moved towards the door. He drew back the bolts and opened the door… but the boy had disappeared.

Frowning in confusion, the Doctor and Rose walked down the path and looked up and down the street.

'Can you see him anywhere?' the Doctor turned to Rose.

'No, that's weird, how'd he get away so fast?' Rose asked in confusion.

'No idea, but I think we need to find out' the Doctor said as he took her hand, and led her away. Where to though… he had no idea. Hopefully to wherever he'd find out what the hell was going on, and if not there, then hopefully to where Craig was, wherever that may be.

**...**

**And there it is! So, very, very nearly at Jack now! Yay, I can't wait to find out what you guys think about him and Craig meeting properly. I think all Craig/Jack shippers will be happy though, lot of flirting abounds! So if guy on guy flirting gets you, I'd look away, but it's nothing to over the top, just warning you.**

**Oh, and a little bit of story promotion too. Please go check out my other Doctor Who story, specifically the ending to Katz because I'd like to know what you guys think. The chapter is call The Doctor's Torturous Performance, and well let's just say, someone tries to get to the Doctor by hurting Rose.**

**And, to those who are interested, I've started a new story. It's called The Quest of the Chosen One, so please give that a look too. Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter!**


	71. The Empty Child, Captain Jack Harkness

**WOOHOO! Bring out the fireworks because we're finally here, Captain Jack Harkness, Hooray! Now Jack is one of my favourite companions, although I do like him in Torchwood rather then Doctor Who. I just think that since Jack is more... mature than the other companions, he fits in better into the more adult theme of Torchwood. But let's by honest, Jack is great wherever he is, although I also think he's the harder to right for then the other canon characters, so I hope I capture him right in this. Please note that Doctor Who is not mine, but Craig Tyler is. Also, word of warning, a lot of slash flirting in this but nothing to graphic. Hope you enjoy : )**

**...**

**The Empty Child – Captain Jack Harkness**

Craig groaned as he pulled a hand through his hair, bringing it down across his face as he woke up. His head felt a lot clearer now and the sick feeling in his stomach had gone too. He pinched the corners of his eyes and yawned as he rolled over and stood up. His eyes instantly fell on the man who had saved him; he was standing near the bed, watching him with great interest.

Craig quickly looked around him to see where he was. They seemed to be in some kind of spaceship. But this wasn't like the Zangin ship he had been taken too; this one was closer to the Tardis, but much smaller, with bright flashing lights and rusty old metal walls lined with pipes and brightly coloured wires. Strangely enough, it had an almost homely feel to it, well for a spaceship anyway.

'You know, you make the most adorable noises when you sleep' the man who had saved him told him with a smile, causing Craig to blush immediately.

'You were watching me?' he asked cheekily. The man shrugged.

'Not in a pervy way. I was just worried about you; you seem a little bit naïve when it comes to falling asleep with a stranger nearby' the man told him gently.

'Oh thank you very much, but I passed out, I hardly fell asleep' Craig countered.

'Not naive in a bad way, in a cute way. Anyway, are you feeling any better' the man asked him. Craig couldn't help but smile at the concern in his voice, despite the fact that they didn't even know each other.

'Much, but it would be easier to see you with some lights' Craig commented.

'Why, would you like seeing me a little closer' the man asked flirtatiously, but he moved over to a counter of buttons and controls, sitting in a black leather captain's chair before he turned the lights up, and Craig could see the good looking man a lot better now.

'Oh, I don't know about that, but you are quite easy on the eyes, a naïve boy like me should watch out' Craig sighed, albeit seductively. He blinked to himself in confusion. Craig had never been the type to be so forward in his flirting, and he never normally let himself to be interested in someone on looks alone, to him it seemed a bit to whorish, but then again, this man had saved his life, which gave him a lot of points admittedly.

'A cute boy like you should be careful too' the man winked, and once again Craig blushed.

'So, you saved my life, thanks for that, but I still don't even have a name' Craig pointed out with a bright smile.

'Indeed you don't. Captain Jack Harkness. 133 Squadron Royal Airforce, American Volunteer' Jack introduced himself, taking an ID card from his pocket and handing it to Craig, who sat down on the edge of the bed. He looked down at it, and the blonde man's smile widened.

'And the plot thickened. Because you just told me a lie. Then again, a little white lie is alright for when two men meet, to make yourself… more desirable' Craig commented with a wink. Jack looked surprized, clearly caught out, but with a questioning look on his face.

'This is Psychic Paper, i.e. it tells me whatever you want it too' Craig elaborated.

'Wow, not only gorgeous, but smart too. How'd you know that then?' Jack asked curiously.

'Well, I actually have three reasons. Number one, we're sitting inside a spaceship capable of making a person float in the air, so clearly you're from a time period not native to the World War Two era. And Number two, my best friend uses this all the time' Craig told him with a smirk.

'And Number Three?' Jack raised an eyebrow.

'You just handed me a piece of paper telling me you think I'm cute, and that you'd wonder what it would be like to kiss me' Craig grinned.

'Tricky things, psychic paper' Jack flashed him that hansom grin he had.

'Yep, you can't let your mind wander when you're handing it over' Craig nodded as he handed the Psychic Paper back to him. Instantly Jack's eyes drifted down to read it.

'Hum, so your name is Craig Tyler, which is a lovely name by the way, and that you consider me to be 'Divinely Hot' and that you wouldn't mind finding out what it would be like to kiss me either' Jack chuckled. Craig laughed along too. Normally he'd be bright red with embarrassment if that had happened with someone else, but something about Jack put him at ease, he felt comfortable around him already.

'Anyway, I think we can do just fine without the Psychic Paper' Craig giggled as he stood up.

'That would be better, wouldn't it?' Jack agreed, also standing.

'Must say, you have a very nice spaceship, and not a bad ass either' Craig commented casually as Jack walked past him. Jack instantly turned around, moving over so that he was pretty close to Craig. He looked down at him, a tender smile at his mouth, his sapphire eyes meeting Craig chocolate ones.

'Thank you, Craig Tyler' he whispered. It was odd, but the longer they looked into each other's eyes, the more there was to see there. The two of them were pressed up against each other, and they stood stock still for a moment, before Jack blinked and took a step back, turning away. Craig was sure that he saw a red blush creeping over Jack's face as he turned away.

'Guessing you're not a local boy then' Jack said, keeping his back to Craig, who smiled, but couldn't help but be confused. One moment Jack was the one flirting, and now he was the one blushing? But even that was a cute enough look on his hansom face.

'You can talk' Craig laughed incredulously.

'Yeah, I guess the spaceship does give it away. But you, Craig Tyler, have a cell phone, a liquid crystal watch, and are wearing fabrics that won't be around for at least another two decades, and look rather adorable and innocent in them by the way' Jack said, still looking away from him. Craig looked down at himself, tugging at the bottom of his hoodie, a wide sloppy grin on his face.

'Thanks' he said quietly, a strange sort of happiness in his voice. Suddenly Jack jumped like a sudden thought had just hit him. He whirled on the spot to look at Craig, his face no longer red.

'Your hands!' he cried.

'My hands?' Craig blinked, looking down at them. There were angry burns and cuts all over them. In fact, a large slash on his palm was bleeding a bit.

'You burnt your hands on the rope!' Jack stressed. Strangely, he sounded like this was like Craig was dying of a serious injury, but maybe Jack was just very compassionate and kind.

'Yeah, but I'm fine' Craig shrugged it off, looking out of a window, before he noticed that all he could see was the sky, and the tops of buildings, but nothing on ground level. But that could only mean one thing!

'We're parked in mid-air! Can't anyone down there see us?' he wondered.

'No. Now can I please have a look at your hands so I can help heal them?' Jack asked firmly but gently.

Craig sat down in the captain's seat, holding out his hands. Within seconds, Jack was crouched down in front of him, holding his hands carefully in his own. He started to run a scanner over them.

'By the way, you can stop acting now if you like. I know exactly who you are. I can spot a Time Agent a mile away' Jack suddenly said, but he sounded almost sad to say it, like he didn't want to believe it to be true, whatever 'it' was.

'Time Agent?' Craig blinked in confusion.

'I've been expecting one of you guys to show up. Though, not, I must say, by barrage balloon. Do you often travel that way?'

'Not really, I was trying to save a little boy and I ended up getting swept away on the rope' Craig explained. Jack chuckled slightly.

'You really are quite a diamond aren't you? Beautiful, cutely naïve, innocent, smart, sexy, kind, and compassionate' Jack listed off. Craig certainly wouldn't go that far… but it was nice of Jack to think that about him.

'Thank you' Craig said softly, blushing at all that praise.

'Well you are' Jack said as he took his scarf off and wrapped it around Craig's wrists.

'What're you doing?' Craig asked.

'Sssh, just… try and keep still' Jack said in an almost soothing voice. He finished binding his hands and leaned over the blonde man to press a button over his head. As he did, Craig caught his eye, and the two were suddenly very aware of their proximity, and once again they both blushed. But the moment was broken as there was a bleeping sound, and suddenly Craig's hands were filled with what looked like thousands of tiny speck of fairy-dust, bright golden and beautiful. Craig looked at them in awe.

'They're beautiful' he said, awestruck.

'Yeah, the most beautiful thing I've ever seen' Jack agreed. But he wasn't looking at the golden lights, his gaze was transfixed on Craig, who didn't notice exactly what Jack was looking at when he had said that.

'What are they?' Craig asked him breathlessly.

'Nanogenes. Sub-atomic robots. The air in here's full of them' Jack explained as the Nanogenes span around his hands, the burns and cuts on which instantly healing before Craig's very eyes. Jack suddenly pressed the button again, and they disappeared.

'They just repaired three layers of your skin' Jack told Craig as he pulled he scarf off his wrists.

'Thank you Jack' Craig asked, looking into his eyes again, and once again the two men just looked into each other's eyes for a moment.

'You're most welcome. But I think we ought to get down to business' Jack stated as he stood up, breaking the moment. Craig watched him in confusion, trying to work out what he meant. Oh he had better not mean _business_ or he might just slap him! He was all for flirting, but _business_ was something that was NOT going to happen that night!

'Business?' he decided he need to be clear on this before he said anything else. After all, he liked Jack, more and more by the minute, but they had still only just met! He wasn't about to sleep with him or even kiss him before they knew each other better, if they got the chance to that was!

Jack smiled at him, as he turned back to the blonde, a bottle of champagne in his hand.

'Come on, I wanna show you something. Can you bring up the glasses?' he asked as he pressed another button. Within seconds, a set of steps leading to the roof lowered down into the ship, which Jack started walking up.

Shaking his head in wonder at the mystery Jack presented to him, Craig shrugged, picked up two of the indicated glasses, and followed him up the steps. His eyes widened when he realised they was nothing beneath him, nothing visible at least. And the clouds and planes were around them, he was thousands of feet above the river Thames, and was near Big Ben for some reason.

He looked at Jack for an explanation, but he wasn't looking at Craig. Instead, he was struggling to uncork the bottle, which Craig couldn't resist having a chuckle at the annoyed expression on his face.

'Need a hand?' he asked cheekily.

'That won't be necessary, but thank you anyway' Jack told him.

Craig set the glasses down on the… floor? and watched as Jack tried to uncork the bottle. He soon heard Jack muttering to himself in annoyance.

'Come on you stupid bottle. Damn, this is embarrassing, and I really wanted to impress him…' Jack muttered to himself, clearly not intending to be heard.

'What was that?' Craig asked, but he had heard it perfectly clear. Jack wanted to impress him? Well he had already done that, that was for sure.

'Oh, nothing. Oh! Here we go!' Jack laughed as the cork flew out the end of the bottle. Craig laughed at the proud smile that appeared on Jack's face, making him look rather adorable in the male Tyler's opinion.

'Very nice' Craig complimented as he held the glasses towards Jack, who quickly filled them both before setting the bottle down. Craig handed him one and Jack grinned at him.

'So, we're clearly standing on something' Craig noted, and with a deep chuckle, Jack took a small pen like switch from his pocket. He pressed the button on the end of it, and a metal floor appeared beneath them as Craig took in the shape of Jack's ship. It sorta looked like an aeroplane, but a silvery futurist one.

'Right… you've got yourself an invisible spaceship… which is tethered up to Big Ben for some reason' Craig noted slowly, a little taken aback by that fact.

'First rule of active camouflage. Park somewhere you'll remember' Jack told him, before he gentle tugged at Craig's newly repaired hand, and pulled him down so that the two of them were lying on the top of the ship, next to each other, looking up at the stars. And Craig didn't do a single thing to stop him, because absolutely nothing inside him made him want to do so.

…

The Doctor and Rose had eventually decided that they really needed to talk to Nancy again if they were going to solve any of this, and they had eventually managed to find her again. They were standing by some trees at the edge of some train tracks, when they saw the young woman jumping over them, heading towards them. They watched her pass them, before they slowly followed her.

She hurried into an outer house and started taking food out of her bag, before she suddenly turned around, seeing the Doctor and Rose standing in the doorway, watching her.

'How'd you follow me here?' was her first comment.

'I'm good at following, me. Got the nose for it' the Doctor grinned evasively at her.

'People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to' Nancy said suspiciously.

'My nose has special powers' the Doctor joked.

'Yeah? That's why it's uh…' Nancy trailed off, a cheeky glint in her eyes. Rose hastily placed her hand over her mouth to contain her giggles.

'What?' the Doctor wanted to know.

'Nothing' Nancy shook her head, looking rather amused.

'What?' the Doctor repeated persistently.

'Nothing! Do your ears have special powers too?' Nancy teased, and at this, Rose couldn't hold it in any longer, and began laughing loudly.

'What're you two trying to say?' the Doctor looked between the two amused women.

'Goodnight, Mister, Miss' Nancy said with a small smile to them, and she began to turn away. But the Doctor spoke out before she could even take a step.

'Nancy. There's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right' the Doctor said, and it wasn't a question. Nancy sighed and turned back to them.

'The thing I'm looking for. The thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?' he carried on, and this time it was a question.

'There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station' she nodded.

'Can you take us there?' Rose asked her.

'There's soldiers guarding it, barbed wire... you'll never get through' Nancy shook her head.

'Try me!' the Doctor said confidently.

'You sure you wanna know what's going on in there?' Nancy asked them calmly.

'We really wanna know' the Doctor nodded with a small grin.

'Definitely' Rose added smiling.

'Then there's someone you need to talk to first' Nancy told them seriously.

'And who might that be?' the Doctor asked.

'The Doctor' she stated, before she turned away. The Doctor and Rose shared a bemused expression, both of them confused, before they shrugged, and followed after her.

…

Craig and Jack were drinking the champagne whilst Jack pointed out the various stars, telling Craig more about them. It was somewhat romantic, and Craig wanted to stay, but he had been gone a long time, and he really needed to get back to the Doctor and Rose. And so with reluctance, he stood up.

'You know, it's getting on a bit, so I should really be getting back' he told Jack.

'Aw, but I'm having fun. And we're discussing business' Jack pouted, and Craig smiled at the adorable whine in his voice.

'This isn't business. This is champagne, which is drinking quite nicely by the way' Craig complimented him.

'I try never to discuss business with a clear head' Jack told him as he stood up, and walked towards him.

'Are you travelling alone? Are you authorised to negotiate with me?' he asked.

'Well… that depends on what we would be negotiating, and the methods we'd use to do so' Craig teased. Jack smiled, knowing exactly what _methods_ he was talking about. One that involved the use of two tongues. But Jack could also tell that he was only kidding, he sensed Craig was the type that would wait rather than just jump straight into something, which he could respect he supposed. Even if said man was _very_ tempting.

'I have something for the Time Agency. Something they'd like to buy. Are you in power to make payment?' he asked instead of flirting back.

'Well, I'd have to confer with my partners' Craig smiled up at him. Until he found the Doctor and Rose, it might prove useful to have Jack think he was a Time Agent, whatever one of them was.

'Partners?' Jack looked at him curiously.

'Yep' Craig nodded.

'A her or a him?' Jack asked. Craig could have sworn he saw a spike of jealousy rise to Jack eyes in that moment.

'Both. Do you have the time?' Craig asked. Jack, clearing his throat, took the pen device out of his pocket again and flicked a switch on it. Suddenly Big Ben's face lit up, chiming the time at half past nine. Craig let out an incredulous laugh.

'Okay, that was impressive. Good first date trick, bravo' Craig clapped his hands.

'A date? This is a date?' Jack teased him, and Craig laughed. Jack grinned, before he closed the gap between them, and slipped his hands down to Craig's waist. And once again, he was blushing, but he did not remove his hands. Especially seeing as Craig placed his hands onto Jack's arms, pulling them ever so slightly closer.

'So... when you say 'partners', just how disappointed should I be? And if it's plural, can I join?' he teased, but at the same time, he really wanted to know.

'Oh, no. it's nothing like that. Really it isn't. One of them is an alien, and the other is my sister, and I ain't into incest' Craig shook his head. Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

'Good. I was afraid you might be taken. That would be… a terrible… terrible disappointment' he whispered into Craig's ear.

'Really?' Craig asked quietly.

'Mm-hm' Jack nodded. Craig just stared up at him for a moment before replying.

'… Good' Craig said softly, and Jack grinned widely. Then he moved back and snapped his fingers, like an idea had just hit him.

'Do you like Glenn Miller?' he asked, and without waiting for a reply, he pointed the device over his shoulder, and 'Moonlight Serenade' began to play. Then he walked back over to Craig, tenderly placed his arms around the smaller man, and the two of them began to dance a slow yet romantic dance.

'It's 1941. The height of the London Blitz. The height of the German Bombing Campaign. And something else has fallen on London, a fully equipped Chula Warship. The last one in existence' Jack began to whisper into his ear. But Craig was barely listening. Instead he had closed his eyes, and had placed his head on Jack's shoulder, taking in his smell as they slowly turned.

'Armed to the teeth' Jack stated, before he drew back slightly to look at him properly.

'And I know where it is. Because I parked it' he grinned and Craig chuckled.

'If the Agency can name the right price, I can get it for you. But in two hours, a German bomb is gonna fall on it and destroy it forever. That's the deadline. That's the deal. And now, shall we discuss payment?' Jack asked, suddenly looking and sounding much more serious.

'Would you like to know what I'm thinking?' Craig asked, and Jack came to a stop, looking him dead in the eye.

'I would _love_ to know what you're thinking' Jack said with sincerity after a brief pause.

'I think you were using your incredibly sexy voice just there…' Craig said dreamily. Jack fondly rolled his eyes but was smiling.

'Two hours, the bomb falls. There'll be nothing left but dust and a crater' Jack chuckled slightly.

'Oh, such promises' Craig sighed, clearly not taking much of this in.

'Are you even listening to any of this?' Jack asked in amusement. Craig mentally pulled himself together, snapping out of the very explicit day dream he had started to have, a thing which until he had met Jack would not normally occur so soon in meeting a man. Just what effect was this man having on him?!

'You used to be a Time Agent, now you're some kind of free lancer' Craig relayed what Jack had mentioned to him whilst they had been lying next to each other.

'Well, that's a little harsh' he said, pulling Craig much closer to his chest.

'I like to think of myself as a criminal' Jack told him in a deep husky voice.

'Oh goodie! I never could resist a bad boy' Craig said in that dreamy voice again.

'So, these partners of yours, do they handle the business?' Jack turned the conversation back to 'business'.

'Well, I delegate a lot of that, yeah' Craig nodded.

'Well, maybe we should go find them' Jack suggested.

'Aw, do we have to, I'm rather enjoying myself' it was Craig's turn to pout.

'Come on' Jack chuckled as he lightly tugged on Craig's hand.

'Well, how are we meant to do that anyway?' Craig asked grumpily. Now that they had started dancing, he didn't want to leave anymore!

'Easy. I'll do a scan for alien tech' Jack winked at him. And he began to do just that, using a strange sort of computer on a strap on his wrist.

'Well it's about time, a true professional' Craig whispered to himself.

'Say something?' Jack asked.

'Nope!' Craig quickly blushed once more. God how Jack could make him blush!

…

Nancy had led the Doctor and Rose to a set of stone steps near a railway station. Down below them, an area was contained behind thick barbed wire fencing, a large object hidden beneath a green coloured tarpaulin. The three of them were looking down on it, the Doctor using a pair of binoculars to get an even closer look.

'The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up overnight. See that building? The hospital' Nancy pointed at a large building standing on top of a hill in the distance. It looked pretty big, but under the cover of darkness it was hard to get a decent look.

'What about it?' the Doctor asked.

'That's where the doctor is' Nancy explained, as the Doctor and Rose both looked up at it, the Doctor zooming in on it with his binoculars.

'You should talk to him' Nancy suggested.

'For now, I'm more interested in getting in there' the Doctor pointed at the bomb site.

'Talk to the doctor first' Nancy insisted.

'What for?' Rose wanted to know why she was so adamant about them going to see this guy.

'Cos then maybe you won't wanna get inside' Nancy said sadly, and with one last look at the bomb site, she begin to walk back up the steps.

'Where're you going?' Rose asked her.

'There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now' Nancy explained.

'Can I ask you a question? Who did you lose?' the Doctor asked her.

'What?' Nancy asked, sounding bemused.

'The way you look after all those kids. It's 'cos you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it' the Doctor said, lowering his binoculars and turning to face her. Nancy sighed, before she answered his question.

'My little brother. Jamie. One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just… he just didn't like being on his own' Nancy said sadly.

'What happened?' the Doctor asked.

'In the middle of an air raid? What do you THINK happened?' Nancy sighed again.

'I'm sorry' Rose gently rubbed Nancy's arm.

'Thanks' she murmured in reply. The Doctor suddenly smiled at the two of them.

'Amazing' he said, and the two girls looked at him in confusion.

'What is?' Nancy asked.

'1941. Right now, not very far from here, a German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says 'no'. 'No'. Not here. A mouse in front of a lion' he said, looking up at the planes in the sky, before he turned back to the girls, looking Nancy dead in the eye.

'You're amazing, the lot of you. Dunno what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me' he stated.

'Frighten the hell out of you eh? I thought we were all 'stupid apes'' Rose teased him.

'Not all of you, especially you and Craig' the Doctor smiled at her fondly, before he turned back to Nancy.

'Off you go then… do what you've gotta do. Save the world' the Doctor smiled at her.

'And thank you' Rose grinned appreciatively at her. Nancy nodded at them, before she turned and walked up the steps, whilst the Doctor and Rose headed in the opposite direction, going down them. They didn't see that as they went off in the direction of the hospital, the shadow of a small figure wearing a gas mask slowly followed Nancy up the steps.

**...**

**And at last, Jack is in this properly now! Yay : ) Gotta love Jack! Well, unless you're Craig. I really feel the need to point out right from the very beginning that although in this Craig and Jack will be very couple-y, they will NOT end up together. Jack will fall for Craig, I mean really fall for him, but Craig won't fall for him. So I'm sorry, but there will be moments, and I'll make it up to you guys in the sequel I promise! Anyway, let me know what you think, and please remember to check out my other Doctor Who story, or even my Digimon or Pokemon stories : ) Keep on reading!**


	72. The Empty Child, The Gas Mask Army

**Woo! Here's part 4! Not much to say really other than please note that Doctor who isn't mine, Craig is, and I hope you all enjoy. Read on at your own risk, because the Gas Mask Army is being led by an empty child...**

**...**

**The Empty Child - The Gas Mask Army**

It wasn't long before the Doctor and Rose had reached the gates to the hospital, where a sign on the surrounding wall revealed it to 'Albion Hospital', and now the Doctor was using the Sonic Screwdriver to unlock the padlocked gate.

'So, any ideas as to what's going on yet?' Rose asked as he worked.

'Not really, not yet. But I've got a feeling we'll find out in this hospital. Got it!' the Doctor cried as the padlock fell away, and after quickly undoing the chain, the Doctor and Rose slipped inside.

The building was massive, with many floors, and the width of the building was impressive too. Under the night sky and the flickering lights of the fire, it looked rather imitating, but of course that wasn't going to stop the Doctor and Rose, for they quickly slipped inside.

They were in a white walled corridor with red flooring, and after a quick look up and down the corridor, the Doctor went to a wooden doorway, holding it open for Rose. They walked into a darkened room, the walls lined with beds. And on said beds were people, men, woman, even doctors and nurses, all lying completely motionless, all wearing gas masks.

'What the…?' Rose trailed off in shock at the sight of them all.

'Come on' the Doctor said, pulling on her sleeve. He led her back into the corridor, and into another ward, which was lighter and easier to see. Again, there were rows of people all wearing gas masks onto the beds, but one person in the room was not wearing a gas mask. An elderly man, with a bald head and wearing a doctor's uniform was sitting in a chair. He looked quite elderly, and also quite ill.

'You'll find them everywhere. Every bed in every ward. Hundreds of them' the elderly man said as a greeting, his throat sounding a little rough.

'Yes, we saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?' the Doctor asked.

'They're not. Who are you?' the man asked.

'We're, uh... are you the doctor?' the Doctor asked instead.

'Doctor Constantine. And you are?' Doctor Constantine repeated his question. Rose went to open her mouth to answer, but the Doctor beat her too it.

'Nancy sent us' he said.

'Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb' Doctor Constantine noted.

'Yeah, we were' Rose nodded.

'What do you know about it?' Doctor Constantine wondered.

'Nothing. Why we were asking. What do you know?' the Doctor asked.

'Only what it's done' Doctor Constantine replied, nodding his head towards the people wearing the gas masks.

'What, they were all caught up in the blast?' Rose looked around in wonder.

'None of them were' the elderly doctor shook his head, before he laughed slightly, but it soon became a nasty cough instead. He slumped down into a chair behind him, whilst the Doctor and Rose took a few steps towards him.

'You're very sick' the Doctor observed.

'Dying, I should think, I just haven't been able to find the time. Are you a doctor?' Doctor Constantine panted slightly, like he was short for breath.

'I'm not; he has his moments' Rose grinned, nodding towards the Doctor.

'Have you examined any of them, yet?' Doctor Constantine asked urgently.

'Nope' the Doctor shook his head.

'Don't touch the flesh' the old doctor warned.

'Which one?' Rose asked.

'ANY one' Doctor Constantine replied in all seriousness. The Doctor, eyebrows raised in curiosity, took out his Sonic Screwdriver and approached one of the beds, an equally curious Rose at his side.

The Doctor ran the screwdriver over the mask covered face of the body, before he stopped and read the readings on it.

'Conclusions?' Doctor Constantine asked him.

'Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side… Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh but I can't see any burns' the Doctor observed.

'Examine another one' Doctor Constantine ordered, and the Doctor and Rose moved to the next bed. The Doctor repeated his scan, before he frowned, his eyebrows raised.

'What is it?' Rose asked in concern, catching his reactions.

'This isn't possible' he said in disbelieve.

'Examine another' Doctor Constantine told him solemnly. Clearly he already knew what was alarming the Doctor.

The Doctor hurried to another bed, Rose followed with slight less urgency. Once again he scanned the occupant with the Sonic, his look of concern and panic growing even bigger.

'This isn't possible!' he cried.

'What is it? What's wrong?' Rose wanted to know.

'They've all got the same injuries!' the Doctor said in shock.

'Yes' Doctor Constantine nodded.

'What? As in _exactly_ the same?' Rose said; her eyes wide in surprize. After all, that was completely impossible, surely there had to be some differences!

'Yes' Doctor Constantine confirmed it.

'Identical, all of them. Right down to the scar on the back of the hand' the Doctor pointed it out to Rose. Neither of them noticed Doctor Constantine look at his own hand, which held the exact same scar on it.

'How did this happen? How did it start?' the Doctor demanded, spinning on the spot to face the elderly man in the chair.

'When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim' Doctor Constantine began to explain.

'Dead?' the Doctor wanted to know.

'At first. His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward had the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries, as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?' Doctor Constantine asked him.

'The head trauma' the Doctor stated.

'No' Doctor Constantine shook his head.

'Asphyxiation' the Doctor guessed.

'No' again Doctor Constantine shook his head.

'The collapse of the chest cavity' Rose suggested.

'No' the old Doctor shook his head once more.

'All right. What was the cause of death?' the Doctor asked, sick of guessing now.

'There wasn't one' Doctor Constantine told them in all seriousness.

The Doctor and Rose blinked in confusion, there had to be one!

'They're not dead' he stated, before he rapped his walking stick against a tin bin, causing a loud racket. Instantly, all the patients in the beds sprang to a sitting position, staring straight ahead. The Doctor and Rose both jumped back, very alarmed.

'It's all right. They're harmless. They just… sort of, sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just… don't die' Doctor Constantine explained to them.

'And they've just been left here? Nobody's DOING anything?' the Doctor demanded as the patients all slowly lied down again.

'I try and make them comfortable, what else is there?' the old Doctor shrugged.

'Just you? You're the only one here?' Rose wondered.

'Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I am still a doctor' Doctor Constantine said determinedly.

'Yeah. Know the feeling' the Doctor whispered, and Rose's jaw dropped. She knew that he had lost his family and friends in the Time War, but she never knew that he had once had his own children. She held his hand to comfort him, which he smiled at her for, but she was determined to talk to him about this at a later point, right after they had solved this first.

'I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb' Doctor Constantine said sadly.

'Probably too late' the Doctor noted.

'No. They are isolated cases, but… isolated cases breaking out all over London…' he said, starting to cough again, his speech begin to break up. The Doctor and Rose started to walk towards him, worried about him, but he held his stick out towards them.

'Stay back, stay back' he warned, coughing weakly.

'Listen to me… top floor. Room 802, that's where they took the first victim… the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again' he told them.

'Nancy? What's she got to do with this?' Rose asked.

'It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she mi… mi…' he began to gag, clutching at his neck.

'M… mu… mee…' he said brokenly, looking at the two of them with wide, fearful eyes.

The Doctor and Rose watched him in concern, as even speech became a huge effort for the sick man.

'Are… you… my… mum-my?' he asked weakly, before he began to shake and sweat. His face appeared to melt, his lips pulling down and forming into a ring. His eyes widened and became round, looking like glass lenses. His skin changed colour, before it became black and thick straps formed around his head. His face had literally turned into a gas mask before their very eyes.

'Oh my god' Rose whispered, her hand over her mouth in horror as the Doctor watched the man in pity. He just held her trembling hand, but couldn't find any words of comfort to sooth her with, no matter how much he wanted to.

Suddenly they both jumped as they heard voices drifting in from the corridor.

'Hello?' a voice called with a strong American accent, and they both turned around apprehensively.

'Hello?' another voice called, this one very familiar, it was Craig's voice. But the Doctor and Rose smiled ever so slightly, and made for the door.

'Hello?' the other voice called again as they left the ward. They emerged into the corridor, Craig grinning at the sight of them, with another man, a rather hansom man in a captain's uniform in toe.

'Good evening. Hope I'm not interrupting, Jack Harkness' the man introduced himself, wringing their hands warmly. Both the Doctor and Rose smiled at him, liking his warm personality already.

'I've been hearing all about you both on the way over' Jack smiled at them, pointing at Craig.

'He knows. I had to tell him about the three of us being Time Agents' Craig told them both, and the Doctor nodded. Rose hid her confusion well, and nodded along too.

'And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Miss Tyler and Mr Spock' Jack grinned, patting them both on the shoulder, before he walked passed them and into the ward, leaving the Doctor looking confused, and Rose laughing hysterically.

'Mr Spock?' the Doctor threw Craig a pointed look.

'Well what was I supposed to say, you don't have a name! Don't you ever get tired of 'Doctor'? Doctor who?' Craig shook his head despairingly.

'Nine centuries in, I'm coping. Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz, it's not a good time for a stroll' the Doctor commented.

'I didn't go for a stroll. If you must know I ended up hanging from a barrage balloon and nearly fell to my death from over Big Ben' Craig stated casually as he began to walk after Jack.

'You did what?!' Rose cried in alarm.

'Are you alright?' the Doctor asked worriedly.

'Yeah, I'm fine; Jack caught me in his spaceship. Oh yeah, what's a Chula warship?' Craig suddenly asked. The Doctor stopped walking for a moment.

'Chula?' he mused aloud, before the three of them followed Jack into the ward. Jack had already looked around, and had obviously chosen to scan one of the victims out of curiously. A frown appeared on his face.

'They're all the same' he muttered.

'We'd noticed' the Doctor said softly.

'This just isn't possible. How could this happen?' Jack asked, somewhat panicked.

'What kind of Chula ship landed here?' the Doctor demanded.

'What?' Jack looked up at him.

'He told me it was a warship. He stole it. Parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's gonna fall on it, unless WE make him an offer' Craig explained.

'What kind of warship?' the Doctor asked again.

'Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this!' Jack shouted, sounding aggravated.

'This all started when that thing fell, that's when people started changing into these… things, it has to be involved, so you tell him what it was!' Rose shouted at him angrily.

'An ambulance!' Jack cried, before he fiddled with a button on his wrist strap.

'Look' he commanded, as a hologram of the thing they had chased through the time vortex appeared above the device.

'That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. Its space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels, threw you the bait…' Jack trailed off.

'Bait?' Craig raised an eyebrow.

'I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk' Jack told him.

'But you said it was a WAR ship' Craig pointed out.

'They have ambulances in wars' he sighed, before he walked away from the three of them, clearly annoyed. They had turned back to them, a guilty look on his face.

'It was a con. I was conning you…that's what I am, I'm a con man!' he cried at them. His eyes flashed with guilt as a hurt look appeared over Craig's face.

'So that's it! You didn't think anything of me, I was just a stupid, naïve, boy for you to con!' Craig shot at him. Looking ashamed but hurt by the accusation, Jack shook his head.

'You are everything that I said before and more. You really are, you really are something special Craig. I'm… sorry' he looked down. The Doctor and Rose hovered somewhat awkwardly in the background as Craig let out a deep sigh.

'Well, I suppose I was dishonest too' Craig sighed, and Jack looked at him curiously.

'I let you think we were Time Agents but we're not, we're just a couple more free-lancers' Craig admitted, and Jack chuckled.

'Well I should've known really. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour, I mean, Come on! Super Boy, Flag Girl and U-Boat Captain?!' he chuckled. Craig laughed, whilst both Rose and the Doctor looked down at their clothes, somewhat uncomfortably.

'Anyway... I promise you Craig, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship' Jack looked him dead in the eye. Finding honesty in them, Craig turned to his sister and the Doctor.

'I believe him, but what IS happening here, Doctor?' he asked nervously, looking around at the patients in the beds.

'Human DNA's being rewritten… by an idiot' he stated softly.

'What d'you mean?' Craig asked curiously.

'I dunno… some kind of virus. It's converting human beings into these things' he replied, nodding at the bodies.

'But why? I mean, what's the point?' Rose asked.

'No idea' the Doctor said shaking his head.

'But what are they?' Craig asked as he approached one of the beds, leaning over to have closer look.

'Don't touch them' Rose warned.

'I won't' Craig assured her. But he very nearly did when suddenly the person he had been examining sprang up, all the others in the room doing the same. Craig leapt back from the bed, the Doctor, Rose, and Jack all looking startled too.

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

Every patient in the ward was chanting the same word over and over.

'What's happening?' Rose asked nervously, backing away from them.

'I don't know' the Doctor whispered as they all began to climb out of their beds. The four none gas mask wearers backed away from them, but they were closing in on all sides, trapping them near to a wall.

'Don't let them touch you' the Doctor warned Craig and Jack.

'What happens if they touch us?' Craig asked.

'You're looking at it' the Doctor said solemnly. They were completely trapped now, with no escape methods, and the Gas Mask Zombies were drawing ever closer. Craig noticed how Jack protectively placed himself in front of the blonde man, and felt an even bigger wave of affection for him. But right now, he was worried it would do no good. And the Gas Mask Zombies weren't showing any signs of stopping and they tightened the gaps in their ranks, forming a solid, chanting, wall.

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

'Mummy'

**...**

**'Mummy - Mummy!' Haha! Long a good cliff-hanger! Not much of one since we all know what happens, but I love it anyway : ) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. Also one review pointed out that Jack is a little out of character in the last chapter. I noticed that too, but it was also deliberate. I just wanted Craig and Jack's first meeting to be pretty intense. But either way, Jack will slip back into his usual character with quirks soons enough. Anyway, please leave a review and see you next time.**


End file.
